Interview with Margaret Gage, November 29, 1979

Interview Summary

In this interview with Margaret Gage, a close friend of Mary Breckinridge, she relates how she and Breckinridge met, and talks about their friendship through the years up until Breckinridge's death. She talks about visiting Mrs. Breckinridge at the Frontier Nursing Service headquarters at Wendover, and gives her impressions of the FNS and the local area. She talks about Mrs. Breckinridge's relationships with both the staff of the FNS, and the local people of Leslie County who were served by the FNS.

She describes Mrs. Breckinridge's personality, and discusses her private life including her two marriages, and the deaths of her children. She discusses at length Breckinridge's belief in Spiritualism, and her communication, via a psychic, with her son who had passed away. She talks about Breckinridge's relationship with a nun in England, Sister Adeline, and how this relationship replaced her use of psychics to communicate with her son. Gage was one of the people at Wendover the day Mary Breckinridge passed away. She talks about her death, and about the burning of some of Breckinridge's personal effects after her death.

Interview Keyword

Apparitions. Bereavement. Country life Death. Psychics. Spiritualism. Transportation--Kentucky Visions.

Interview LC Subject

Appalachian Region--Social conditions Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965 Children Frontier Nursing Service, Inc. Leslie County (Ky.) Medical care--Appalachian Region Religion Rural conditions Rural health services

Interview Rights

All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.

Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.