Welcome to my web-page. My name is C. Gale Perkins and I am the author of The Baby's Cross .
My mother wrote a poem for me when I was three years old. We were in different hospitals at the same time and both
of us had tuberculosis . My mom died a year later at the age of twenty-four when I was
four years old. She had tuberculosis of the lungs and I had tuberculosis of the bones.
My mother,Marjorie Logan-Willson, wrote many other poems but this is the poem that I want to share with
the world at this time. I have received a lot of comfort from this poem and I have honored it by making it the title
of my book.
I have put the cover of my book on this page to add more to the poem. I am the little girl laying in the
crib facing my aunt Eunice. This photo was taken on my third birthday.
I would have a visitor each month; a tall thin woman, she was my Aunty Eunice, my Mother’s sister.
I asked her where my mother was and she said, “She is very sick”.Aunty
Eunice said that she would visit my mother following her visits with me and would tell her all about me.She told me I had Mom’s big brown eyes and her sweet singing voice.She was like a messengerwho would bring good news back and forth.I asked her if she would bring Mom someday when she got better. She promised
she would. She would give me a big hug and when she would leave, I would cry.I
missed her when she left - she was so nice and smelled so good and would make me laugh, but most of all it was her hugs. I
could not feel them too much on top of the plaster but I knew they would feel good.
The answer to all the questions that were in my mind were somewhat answered in the poem which is the title
of my book, “The Baby’s Cross,” written by my Mom. The poem was written after one of the visits to me and
then to my Mom, from Aunty Eunice, who had brought the message to her along with the picture.
THE BABY’S CROSS
Her big brown eyes twinkle roguishly. (As they use to when she chased her cat.) Oh dear, why did I think of that?
She asked for him today and wondered, “Did her Saunders miss her while she was away?”
The kitten died but she never knew The sorrows of childhood should be so few.
Yet-the cast extends from her sturdy shoulders to her knees And, when one thinks of these,
and many other things, How joyously she laughs, how sweet she sings.
Then when her little story of her wants are done, She whispers, earnestly, “some
day I will run and run. So far that nobody can catch me again.
With a sigh, your heavy heart whispers back-AMEN
By Marjorie-Logan-Willsonto Gale 11/16/36 In
memory of Eunice’s visit to My Darling Gale
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The Baby’s Cross
is a memoir about a tuberculosis survivor named Gale, a young girl who fought many obstacles in her life. She was born prematurely
and with the help of a neighbor, she survived. At age two, a fall down the stairs was to take her life in a direction that
seemed almost impossible to endure at the time. The losses in her life were many, including her mother, many other family
members, and the loss of a normal childhood.
C. Gale Perkins was hospitalized for twelve years at the Lakeville State Sanatorium
in Lakeville, Massachusetts with tuberculosis of the bone, which she contracted at the age of three. Gale tells about her
experiences while in the hospital during her twelve years at the sanatorium, including when she was paralyzed from the waist
down for two of these years due to an operation that went badly.
Gale feels that the experiences
she had were ones that shaped her life into one of determination, compassion, faith, love and accomplishments. The story includes
many miracles that she has experienced in her lifetime, miracles that have reinforced her spiritual beliefs. The real story
behind Gale’s fall down the stairs became clear to her while she was driving along the highway. This is a true story
of a young girl’s struggle to stay alive, and it will touch the readers’ hearts.
La Cruz Del Bebé: Memorias de una Sobreviviente de la Tuberculosis (Spanish Edition) NON-FICTION | BIOGRAPHY
Acerca del Autor
Gale C. Perkins nació en Boston. Pasó doce años en Lakeville Sanatorio Estado de Massachusetts,
desde los tres y los quince años. Ella está orgullosa de ser una sobreviviente de la tuberculosis y una persona con una fe
fuerte. Gale cree que las experiencias que tuvo cuando era niña le han hecho la persona que es hoy en día. Ella es cálida,
amorosa, compasiva, y tiene un gran sentido del humor. Ella ama a la gente y busca el bien de todos. Gale cree en el refrán,
“Cuando la vida te da limones, haz limonada.”
Ella tiene tres hijos y varios nietos.
Trabajó como director de la terapia ocupacional en un hospital privado de veintiséis años. Ella ama a las personas y las flores.
Gale se siente orgullosa del artículo que había publicado en la revista O.T. Advanced en la que ella era una ganadora del
concurso. Ella también tenía un artículo publicado en la revista World Clown, Clowning Around. Se ha desempeñado como una
payasa profesional desde have varios años, y le encanta. Gale se siente muy agradecida por lo que la vida le ha dado y que
se espera muchas nuevas aventuras. Ella vive en Groveland, Massachusetts, en el verano y en Tarpon Springs, Florida en el
invierno. Ella dice que tiene lo mejor de dos mundos. Su marido la animó a escribir la historia su vida, y dice, “he
cumplido mi promesa con él.”
La Cruz Del Bebé es una memoria sobre un sobreviviente de la tuberculosis
llamada Gale, una joven que luchó contra muchos obstáculos en su vida. Ella nació prematuramente y con la ayuda de un vecino,
ella sobrevivió. A los dos años, sufrio una caída por las escaleras que fue a tomar su vida en una dirección que parecía casi
imposible de soportar en el momento. Las pérdidas en su vida eran muchos, incluyendo a su madre, muchos miembros de la familia,
y la pérdida de una infancia normal.
C. Gale Perkins fue hospitalizada durante doce años en el Sanatorio Estado Lakeville
en Lakeville, Massachusetts con la tuberculosis del hueso, que contrajo a la edad de tres años. Gale habla de sus experiencias,
mientras que en el hospital durante sus doce años en el sanatorio, incluso cuando ella estaba paralizada de la cintura para
abajo por dos de estos años debido a una operación que salió mal.
Gale considera que las experiencias que tuvo fueron los que dieron forma a
su vida en una de la determinación, la compasión, la fe, el amor y sus logros. La historia incluye muchos milagros que ha
experimentado en su vida, los milagros que han reforzado sus creencias espirituales. La verdadera historia detrás de la caída
de Gale abajo de las escaleras se le hizo evidente mientras conducía por la carretera. Esta es una historia verdadera de la
lucha de una mujer joven para seguir con vida, y tocará los corazones de los lectores.
A Pumpkin for God was inspired by my Granddaughter Keri, who was trying to
accept her Grandfathers death and did it in such a beautiful way that I felt it was a story that should be told.
Transcendng Time: Poems by an Angel NON-FICTION
| POETRY
A legacy left by Marjorie Logan Willson to her two daughters
Gale and Elaine; also to other loved ones. Marjorie knew she would not be around and yet the faith she presented in her poems
is one of strength and love. At 24 years of age, she left this earth and left behind many poems to speak from her heart to
the ones she loved so much. The book of poems given to C. Gale Perkins in 1993 by her sister Elaine and was set aside until
Gale wrote her first book The Baby's Cross this is the title of one of the poems written to her.
Before publishing this book I went back to the Lakeville State Sanitorium some 55 years after
I left there.
*********
Below is a video slide show that C. Gale Perkins did to share the many photo's she has during
the time she was a patient for 12 years at the Lakeville State Sanitorium when she was between age 3 and 15.
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C. Gale Perkins and a Hospital friend named Bernie.
Bernie and Gale hadn't seen each other for 56 years and they reunite to talk about their time at The Lakeville State Hospital.
Berney gave Gale her first kiss.
