A S TUTTERING FOUND A TION TRIBUTE
GER TRUDE TOMPKINS BRAVERY ON THE FRONT LINES
Born in October of 1911, Gertrude Tompkins came from a wealthy and privileged background. Her father, Vreeland Tompkins, was a top chemist for John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil with many patents of his own, securing the wealth of the Tompkins family for many years. Vreeland stuttered severely, and naturally was upset that his daughter began to stutter like he did.
Many unconventional methods were used to try and help Gertrude. In second grade, she was advised to stay silent for an entire week, with an allowance to whisper the following week, a bit louder the next, until achieving full volume.
When that failed, the following year she was made to rise every day at 6:30 AM and drink a glass of water while getting dressed,and eat stale bread for breakfast. The following year
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another doctor required her to clench her teeth for five minutes on the first day, adding an additional five minutes each day until reaching a full hour. Her parents thought this technique actually helped and encouraged her to continue with it, which she did for a couple of years.
However, the situation seemed to change with the onset of Gertrude’s teenage years. Tompkins biographer James W. Ure wrote, “As a teenager Gertrude’s stuttering only grew worse. Sometimes she couldn’t speak for several seconds. As she waited for the words to come, others tried to encourage the words from her lips, saying for example, 'Do you mean ‘hotel’? Or are you trying to say ‘home’? She felt shamed by her inability to speak as others did. She shrank from people and avoided speaking in class. Eventually, her teachers no longer called on her. Often Gertrude said she was ill and stayed home from school. Vreeland Tompkins found consolation in the fact that his daughter’s was less severe than his own."
After a hard high school and college experience, she graduated and began her flight training in 1943. Of course, she was concerned that her stuttering
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