A Legacy of Giving

Husband honors his wife's penchant for helping others with professorship bequest

Alvin and Edna H. Perkiss were married for 61 years. They are pictured here in 1965 (left) and 2007 (right). At center is Mrs. Perkiss in 1947.

When Edna H. Perkiss heard that an old friend of her husband's was struggling after the death of his wife, she put a check in the mail, wanting to assist him in any way that she could. "It was typical of her nature," says her husband, Alvin Perkiss. "Helping others was part of who she was."

To celebrate her memory and her spirit of giving, Mr. Perkiss this year made arrangements in his estate plans to establish the Edna H. Perkiss Research Professorship in Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the W.K. Kellogg Eye Center. The endowed professorship will exist in perpetuity, helping advance work being done to find more effective treatments and a cure for age-related macular degeneration, a disease Mrs. Perkiss experienced in her later years.

Mrs. Perkiss was born in 1918 and passed away in 2008. She grew up in Detroit and spent 32 years as a secretary at Ford Motor Company. She worked with a number of Ford vice presidents and was devoted to her job. Sometimes, she would come home at 5 p.m., eat dinner, and go back to work, Mr. Perkiss says, recalling her enthusiasm for a Ford Mustang launch in particular. She also loved to read and travel.

Mr. Perkiss's sister introduced the couple to one another when he returned from serving in the Army in Africa and Italy during World War II. They were married for 61 years. After attending college on the G.I. Bill, Mr. Perkiss founded a Dearborn-based machine tool distributorship supplying automobile plants in Michigan and throughout the country.

When Mrs. Perkiss lost her vision due to age-related macular degeneration, she didn't let it affect her love of life and of others. But she struggled as her eyesight grew worse during the course of seven years, and she had to give up some of her favorite pastimes.

The Edna H. Perkiss Research Professorship in Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences will help move science forward so that others may not have to face the obstacles Mrs. Perkiss experienced, says Dr. Paul R. Lichter, F. Bruce Fralick Professor and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences. "We are very grateful that Mr. Perkiss selected us to do this work in his wife's memory. His gift will enable faculty members to maintain steady, uninterrupted courses of investigation as well as to explore promising new avenues of research."

Mrs. Perkiss would have been grateful to know that, her husband says. "This would have meant a lot to her. I hope that it helps scientists at the Kellogg Eye Center realize the maximum benefit from the work they are doing."