THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 12, 1994 TAG: 9406100241
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEPHANIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940612 LENGTH: Long
They were brought up in a climate of respect and high expectations, enforced by The Look. Her kids know it well; it's a fierce chin-to-chest stare that still makes mouths snap shut and eyes drop.
{REST} ``It's the kind of look that if you're sitting in church talking, her eyebrows shoot up and her cheeks go down,'' said her son, Cameron. ``And you know you better be quiet because when you go home, you're in for it.''
At 18, Cameron is the baby of the Perkins clan. When he graduates from Deep Creek High School this week, his mother also will be on the stage to receive honors from Principal Nathan T. Hardee.
``She has raised 14 good children,'' Hardee said. ``We've never had any trouble with the Perkins kids. They've been very, very good and outstanding as far as character.''
Hardee has watched each Perkins sibling graduate from Deep Creek High, starting with Roderick in 1971. Cameron will be the last.
Perkins single-handedly raised her kids after her husband, William Randolph Perkins, died of a heart attack in 1982. He was 49.
The two had met in 1948 when she was 12. He playfully pushed her at a baseball park in Norfolk, and she got mad.
``I asked him if he was crazy,'' she said. ``He said sorry. He was being fresh.''
Beatrice wasn't allowed to accept company, but William was allowed to walk her from the park after games. Their love blossomed, and four years later, they were married. They settled in Deep Creek, with their first child, Roderick William, born on Nov. 8, 1952.
Less than two years later, Sharon was born, followed by Muriel, Andre, Valerie, Joycelyn and Victoria. They are part of the ``first seven.'' The ``last seven'' are Kimberly, Tracey, Lorri, Darius, Farley, Elton and Cameron.
``My mother and father created such a good environment,'' said Andre Perkins, 37, a mechanic at Virginia Natural Gas. ``We were poor but didn't know it. I never knew until later that families went on vacations.''
The house on Reefwood Road is still the family hub. The walls are covered with pictures of the children in graduation dress and with their families.
The portraits aren't the only reminder that this was a house packed with children. The large yard is bursting with bicycles and old cars.
Beatrice Perkins, 58, retired several years ago from her job picking up and delivering parts for a contractor, and now lives at home with a few of her children. Most of the other siblings live close by and frequently call or visit.
All of the children worked while they were in high school, and many are college graduates or now attend college. And Perkins is still pushing them on.
Cameron, for example, works several nights a week at Hardee's, plays drums at his church and participated in varsity basketball, football and track. He plans to attend Virginia State University in Ettrick this fall, majoring in biology.
Perkins is proud of how she raised her 14 kids. She says she was strict in part because she wanted her children to get an education and find good jobs. If they didn't abide by her rules, they were punished.
Cameron once struck a schoolmate who taunted him, she said. When he returned home, he washed everything in the kitchen - all day long.
``When he was done, he was mad and evil and ready to go to bed.''
Her warnings were enough for most of the children. There were The Look, a rod and threats to make them wary.
``I told them, `You know how I look at home with my hair standing on end,' '' said Beatrice Perkins, laughing. ``If I have to go to school like this, you'll be embarrassed. If you're in trouble, I'm not going to try to look my best.''
Her children are now adults and say they're raising their children much the same way.
Some already have perfected The Look.
{KEYWORDS} CLASS OF 1994 GRADUATION
by CNB