Wendy Jean Perry was born on November 17, 1950. Her family moved to Neptune Beach in 1952, the year polio cases soared in the United States. Wendy contracted the infectious disease, also known as infantile paralysis, in 1953 and was paralyzed from the neck down. She attended San Pablo Elementary in her wheelchair and despite not being able to walk or use her hands, with the exception of a few fingers, Wendy was an amazing student who could draw, mold clay figures, and even sew on a machine. She also sang in the St. Paul's-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church choir, according to her older sister, Dr. Nancy Perry, a 1964 Fletcher High School Graduate. At 3, Wendy was treated at the same polio rehab facility in Warm Springs, Ga., founded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1927. She lived to the age of 12, dying on August 5th, 1963. She was buried three days later. A standing-room-only crowd attended her memorial service at the Beaches Chapel.