​Yangtze River By The Hudson Ba​y

A Young "Hyla Doc" (Upper Left);

Hyla Doc working at WLH Lower Left): "Kuling, Aug. 1925. Hyla at her desk in the guestroom. {OC} = ORIGINAL CAPTIONS";

Right: Hyla Doc With a New Born Baby at The Water of Life Hospital <九江生命活水醫院>.

"Our front gate doorman.{OC} "

– TO VISIT –

The Ploeg Sisters    //    WLH Group Photos    //    WLH Patients    //    WLH Graduations    //    WLH Children

Dr. Perkins's brother Henry visiting the old WLH: 

[From L to R] Deanetta, Elizabeth, Georgina, Henry, and Dr. Perkins, ca. 1928.

Women Nurses at WLH, ca. 1931.

"Hyla Doc's" Mother, Ms. Stowell,

with Dr. Perkins <裴敬思醫生>.

"Some of our frequent volunteers.{OC}"

"Edward at Wuhu with Mrs. Watters and Hyla.

August 1930. {OC} = ORIGINAL CAPTIONS"

Right: Dr. Hyla S. Watters;  center: "Hyla Doc's" Mother, Ms. Ada Stowell Watters; left: Dr. Perkins <裴敬思醫生>.

I would quote just briefly from Ms. Landstrom's book, as she elegant wrote, "...After I (Dr. Watters) had taught for a year and knew that I still wanted to go to medical school, Father was satisfied.  The question of the cost was settled by Dr. Edward C. Perkins.  I believe he paid my way at Smith (College)... It was because of Dr. Edward C. Perkins that I chose medicine and the London School, and China. He and Georgie, his wife, who was business manager for their hospital, were my family in China..."

Doctors of WLH [From L to R]

Dr. Nien, Dr. Ma, Dr. Hsu and Dr. Hsu, and Dr. Perkins.

Ms. Wang and her four daughter in-laws:  Frequent volunteers at the WLH.

For a book-memoir on Dr. Hyla S. Watters, see  Hyla Doc: Surgeon in China Through War and Revolution 1924–1949.  Elsie H. Landstrom, Ed. Publisher: Q.E.D. Press, Fort Bragg, CA: 1991.

IN BRIEF: It is a great book about another Methodist missionary sacrificing her life for China. Dr. Watters' parents have a unique story that connects them to the founder of Doshisha University in Kyoto (同志社大学, 京都), Niishima Jo(新島襄, 1843–1890; English Name: Joseph Hardy Neesima). Mr. Neesima is an imminent teacher and scholar in Japan, and he received his B.S. degree in Science from Amherst College (Phillips Academy then) in Massachusetts (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Hardy_Neesima). It is another tribute to how closely knit the world can be.

Dr. Watters had a life-long relationship with Dr. Edward C. Perkins and his wife, Georgina. How they all met was purely by accident in Kingston, NY, where Dr. Watters' father, Philip M. Watters, was a Methodist minister (ca. 1903), and Georgina was a Sunday School teacher. Dr. Perkins was searching for the life's answer, and on the night he was about to give up, he found Rev. Watters' church and saw the Verse Rev. 22:17 written on a cardboard piece stuck on a pine tree near a cliff in Kingston by the Hudson River. In short, Dr. Watters' father, Rev. Watters, saved Dr. Perkins' life, and her Sunday School teacher, Georgina, married Dr. Perkins.

WLH staff members, ca. February 1931.

Visiting physicians at the WLH:

"The relief corp.{OC}"