The Quote Garden ^™

Who Is Gertrude Tooley Buckingham?

December 8, 2014

Recently I posted some excerpts from the poetry of Gertrude Tooley Buckingham. Mrs Buckingham was a friend of my great-grandparents in New York. My parents inherited an inscribed copy of her 1948 book Poems at Random when my grandma passed away about eight years ago, but I had not heard of Gertrude until then. They also received a few unpublished poems, journal entries, and letters.

Gertrude Tooley was born June 26, 1880 in New York City, an only child to very loving and hard-working parents, Spencer F. Tooley and Fanny Angell. At age 17 she studied for one year at the Conservatory of Music in Detroit while staying at the home of her cousin. She then became a music teacher. She and her husband were both engaged to other people when they fell in love. She married Samuel L. Buckingham (1875–1958) on October 21, 1903. They had two daughters, Doris (b.1909) and Lorraine (b.1912). All were born in New York, and they lived on Northern Avenue which in 1938 was renamed to Cabrini Boulevard. Gertrude became a housewife but maintained a lifelong interest in music; Sam liked sports and games; and Lorraine was a bank secretary.

In 1939, the family sustained a great loss when Doris was taken from them through an accident, at the age of twenty-nine. A few months later, Gertrude received from Spirit the gift of poetic talent. She became what we could call a medium poet, as she heard the words spoken in her head and saw them pass in front of her eyes, sensing what she was to write. She was about age sixty at the time. Poems at Random is dedicated to Doris.

Gertrude and Sam, who was an undertaker, had been married for 54 years when he passed away. She refers to them in her journal as soul mates, and six years after his death writes “My great love for Sam will never die as I’m sure his love for me will always live.” They had three grandchildren:  two girls and a boy. Gertrude passed away August 4, 1971.

Here is a list of name variations I’ve come across:  Gertrude Tooley, Gertrude A. Tooley, Gertie Buckingham, Gertrude A. Buckingham, Gertrude T. Buckingham, Gertrude Buckingham, Mrs. Sam Buckingham, and Mrs. Samuel Buckingham.

Unfortunately, I’ve not yet been able to find a photograph of Gertrude, but below is her signature.

“My prayer is that many of the poems in this book may help to bring joy and peace and understanding to those souls who may be grieving for loved ones whom they call ‘dead’ but who, in reality, are still living in a real world of beauty, being able to manifest to their dear ones of earth when the door is opened for them to come in.”
—Gertrude Tooley Buckingham, Poems at Random, 1948