Karyl Ann Gil

02-20-1949 To 12-25-2020

Karyl Was a Miracle Child, But All She Ever Wanted Was to be Normal.

Karyl’s father, Jerry David Barton, or JD as he was known, was born June 8, 1926 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His parents were poor, but they believed in a better life for their only son, so they

sent JD to school which was a miracle for the Barton family. While attending Tulsa High School, he met Kathryn Louise Bailey.

Kathryn was born on February 19, 1926 in Nevada, Missouri. Her family was of privilege. Her family included the executive assistant to Harvey Sinclair of Sinclair Pipeline, the Independence, Kansas dentist, the founder of the Independence Daily Reporter, the first head of the land office in Independence after statehood, veterans of Vicksburg, and several relatives from the American Revolution. World War II caused Kathryn’s family to relocate to Tulsa, Oklahoma where she and JD met. It was a miracle that these two vastly different people from polar opposite backgrounds even met, but they did, and they were married.

On September 30, 1944 JD and Kathryn had their first child, Jerry David Barton, Jr. The two Jerry Davids were kept straight by calling Senior JD, and by calling Junior Dave. When Dave was born, JD had joined the navy and was sent to the Pacific where he served with distinction aboard a destroyer. Kathryn and Dave moved in with her parents. Kathryn’s father was transferred back to Independence, Kansas where the family awaited JD’s return. In 1945, by God’s grace and a miracle, JD returned safely from the war.

When the war ended, JD returned to Independence, Kansas. Through the miracle of the new G I Bill, JD went to college. First, he went to Independence Junior College. Then, he transferred to Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas.

While JD and Kathryn were in Topeka, Karyl Ann was born February 20, 1949. Karyl was born with several birth defects. The most concerning was spina bifida with a diastematomyelia. Everything from about T5 down was affected with all of the L region being catastrophic. She was born with one club foot, and the other foot was sympathetic. Karyl was given a 50% chance to live through her first 24 hours. Thanks to God’s grace and a miracle, her doctor was Manuel E. Pusitz who became a pioneer in children’s orthopedic treatment.

The doctors did not want to operate immediately, because they did not think that Karyl was going to live. When it became apparent that she would survive for a while, her doctors started treatment for her deformities. When Karyl was four months old, Dr. Pusitz performed her first heel cord extension. When Karyl was 10 months old, a new surgery and cyst encapsulation procedure was performed by Dr. James B. Campbell and Dr. Robert P. Woods. Karyl was in the hospital under the care of Drs. Lucius E. Eckles and Joseph D. Beck, her pediatricians, and Dr. Foster who was brought in for the possible treatment of hydrocephalus. The medical team was sure that Karyl would never live past two years old, but they kept treating her.

Karyl lived past her second year, and she started acting normally. She had the measles, the chicken pox, asthma, a tonsillectomy, and the German measles. When she was ten, which no one ever imagined possible, Dr. William B. Ferguson of Lafayette, Indiana, pinned her right big toe, and he did a hyperextension of her right Hallux to try overcoming the club foot.

In 1960, Karyl’s tendon doctor, Dr. Layman Smith of Elgin, Illinois sent her to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There she was fitted with one of the first Milwaukee braces by Dr. Walter Putnam Blount. Karyl was one of the first patients treated for what became known as Erlacher-Blount Syndrome. She wore the brace almost constantly until she was 17 years old.

By the time Karyl turned 18, she had come to realize that she was not normal. None of her classmates were constantly on crutches. None of them had a permanent cast or braces on their legs. None of them wore a bulky, unstylish full torso brace. She only entered through the back door at school, because there were no stairs for her to climb. She desperately went on a mission to be normal.

Karyl graduated from Independence Junior College just as her father did. She thought she would quit school and go to work at the local A&W drive in. Her father talked her out of that idea. He didn’t think that Karyl’s limitations and roller skates were a good match. Karyl fell in love. Her mother prevented her from eloping by hiding her birth certificate. It turned out that her fiancé was gay, and Karyl was heartbroken. Karyl went on to graduate from Illinois State University with a degree in Sociology/Anthropology with concentration in Native American studies. She got her first job. She moved out on her own. She got a dog. She bought a new car, which was quite notable for a single woman in the mid-1970s. She went to work for the Los Angeles Teacher’s Credit Union where she worked as a DMV clerk. There she made friends with whom she stayed close for the rest of her life. She got married. Karyl did absolutely anything she could to prove to the world that she was normal, and she succeeded.

Despite all of the odds against her, at age 28 Karyl was normal; however, God was not through performing miracles in her life. She was told that she would not live through her first day. Then, not past 2. Then, maybe 5 if she was lucky. Then, not past 10. Certainly she would not live into adulthood. She was told that she would never walk. She was told that she would be hydrocephalic, and that she would be hospitalized for her entire life. And there was no way, not even a prayer, that she would ever have children. Well, thanks to the unusual skills of her doctors, and thanks to her stubborn Scottish heritage, none of those things came true. She had a 10 lb., 14 oz. baby. She named her daughter after her father, and she used the Bailey middle name to come up with Jeri Ann Gil.

Karyl’s accomplishments continued. She became a master seamstress. She had been designing clothes for her dolls since she was a child, and her skills developed greatly. She founded Karyl’s Kreations, a sewing company. She made and donated the entire wardrobe for Jeri’s high school play. She made and donated the costumes for Jeri’s performing dance school. She made and donated quilts to the Veteran’s Hospital. When she was asked, Karyl made a quilt for any new baby. She was the Treasurer for Friends of Cats, a nonprofit cat shelter. She was an officer of the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, and she passed that heritage along to her daughter. She was a devout daughter of the Order of the Eastern Star. While her heart pointed to the manger, her actions followed Electa, the red marker in her Bible, who represents the endurance of persecution. When she was able to go to church, she attended Harvest Hills Baptist Church in Oklahoma City. She is a child of God, and she is in His presence now.

As is the case with most survivors, Karyl wanted to reach out to people who suffered from the same birth defects as she had. She wanted to be a comfort and an encouragement to other spina bifida patients. In February of 1995, Dr. Joseph H. Piatt, Jr., MD of the Oregon Health and Science University was writing a paper on the topic of adult spina bifida patients. Karyl met with Dr. Piatt, but the conversation was short. When he saw that she was not in a wheel chair, that she was not hydrocephalic, and that she was still ambulatory at age 46, he was done. His view was that Karyl’s condition could not be reproduced. She was a miracle, and she was normal.

Karyl’s adulthood continued to be miraculously normal. She drove too fast, and she got speeding tickets. She wrecked a couple of cars. She had a heart attack. Ten years later, she had two more heart attacks. She had a hip replaced. She spent more time at the doctor’s office than she did at the hair salon. She laughed. She cried. She worried. Her father and her mother both passed away, and she missed them both every day.

At 71, Karyl passed away. She will be missed by anyone who met her; however, there should be comfort for us and rejoicing for her for three reasons.

First: She was saved. She is better off with Jesus than she ever could be here

on this earth.

Philippians 1:21 and 23

Psalms 116:15

Second: This is not a surprise. The day Karyl was born, she was only given a 50% chance to live 24 hours. She beat those odds.

Third: When Karyl died, Jeri was almost 43 years old. For Jeri’s entire life, she had

never known her mother not to be in pain. Now, Karyl is free from pain,

and she is free from sorrow.

Revelation 21:4

We all need to be grateful for the time that we spent with Karyl. She was a miracle child, and she was normal. Karyl continues to be an encouragement to anyone who has challenges.