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Gutherman is one of 11 children born to George and Beatrice Gutherman, both deceased. Every night after dinner, he said, the family remained at the table to pray the rosary. Beatrice Gutherman had a deep devotion to Drexel, whose headquarters, St. Elizabeth Convent, were located close to the family's Bensalem home.

The year 1974 would test that devotion and change many lives. Gutherman was diagnosed with a severe infection that destroyed the bones in his ear and his hearing. The danger was that the infection would spread to his skull and his brain.

The pain was so intense that Gutherman missed many school days and was often laid up with fever.

"We didn't pray to Mother Katharine for a miracle. We weren't thinking that," Gutherman said. "We just prayed that the pain would go away or that I would be able to bear it."

In March of that year, he was admitted to St. Christopher Hospital for Children in Philadelphia for ear surgery to remove the diseased tissue. His mother was told that Gutherman never would hear out of that ear again.