This Kennewick toddler died before he could go to school. His memory lives on in classrooms
When Washington Elementary school starts up next fall, the kindergarten classes will have the presence of a student no one will see.
Gage Percifield will be with his Kennewick classmates in the form of art supplies, books and wooden kitchen sets.
“It’s a gift from him through me,” said his mom, Lisa Percifield. “It’s important to me because any way that I can keep him alive I will do it. ... So I do things in his name to keep him alive.”
Gage was nearly 2 when tragedy struck in June 2016. He and his older brother Kannon were staying with a babysitter in Kennewick when the young child drowned in a hot tub.
Later, a friend shared a story about another woman whose child had died and she began donating to schools when her child would have started kindergarten.
Gage, a blonde and blue-eyed spitfire, would have started kindergarten this fall, and Lisa decided she wanted to do something similar. Gage likely would have attended Washington Elementary, where her older son goes to school.
She didn’t know which class he would have been in, so she decided to donate to all of the classes. She asked teachers what they could use, and she plans to have it ready for them in August.
Remembering Gage
In his short life, the toddler showed he was a child who knew his mind and loved hot dogs, bananas, cookies and ice cream.
“He never wore shoes. Shoes were non-existent,” she said. “He loved water, loved being outside. If he was outside, he was happy.”
She remembers he would wake up at 2 a.m. just to get a couple of hot dogs, and after he ate them he would return to bed.
“I should have bought stock in hot dogs for all of the hot dogs that kid ate,” she joked.
She continues to keep those memories alive. She said they talk about Gage on a regular basis. They have a picture of the family in 12 gauge wire. Gage loved the Minions from “Despicable Me,” and “Minions,” so they try to incorporate those into everything they do.
Lisa and her husband did have another child, Wyatt, and they want him to know about his brother. She also encourages Kannon to talk about him.
“We keep him involved in our family,” she said. “We decorate his grave as a family. My kids go trick-or-treating out there on Halloween. ... We keep him alive in our family, now we’re just trying to keep him alive in the world.”
Mourning for Gage
When Lisa set out to start this project, she didn’t intend to involve anyone else, but she realizes that her son could affect the lives of a lot of people.
“In his eulogy, I said, ‘It takes a village to raise a child, and it also takes a village to mourn one,’” she said choking back tears.
“If they were touched by him in some way, and they want to help me do this, then, Yes. I would gladly take that help.”
Lisa doesn’t plan to stop at kindergarten. Each year that she can, she plans to donate to the class that Gage would have been in until his graduation year.
If people want to help her remember Gage, they can contact her at at rain_bow-81@hotmail.com.