Nancy’s Story: Supporting The Cradle

Nancy, center with the orange ribbon, pictured here with her family at The Cradle Centennial Gala.

Nancy Sanborn is the great-granddaughter of Florence Walrath, The Cradle’s founder. When she first discovered her family’s ties to The Cradle, she was eager to learn more about Florence and the history of her work. 

“Both my mother and aunt had vivid memories of ‘Momma Flo,’ particularly her strong will. We should all be glad for that. I’m sure it was essential for a woman so ahead of her time in pushing the boundaries of adoption and female entrepreneurship.” 

The more Nancy learned, the more inspired she became. The Cradle’s vision — of a world where every child thrives in a safe and loving family — resonated deeply with her.  

“I’ve always been concerned about the many children who are born and grow up in circumstances that don’t provide opportunities to thrive. The Cradle helps tackle this complex problem and has created a lifetime of opportunities for thousands of children and families. Of course I wanted to help!” 

Nancy has been a generous and passionate supporter of The Cradle for nearly two decades. Today, she is proud to see the impact of her support and her family’s enduring legacy in action. 

“Whenever I meet someone from the Chicago area, I ask them if they know of The Cradle. The answer is usually ‘yes.’ I’m always struck by how many people have a story about themselves, family members, friends or colleagues who have been personally touched by The Cradle. These stories have helped me appreciate the width of The Cradle’s reach and the depth of its impact over these many years.

Stuart’s Story: A 75-Year History With The Cradle

Past Cradle Board member Stuart White remembers how his mother Margie formed a strong, resilient family through adoption and reflects on his own support for the historic Illinois adoption agency.

Cradle adoptee and former Cradle Board member, Stuart White, says that when the agency placed him at six weeks of age — over 75 years ago — with a mother who was blind from birth, they took a carefully calculated risk. After just two visits to the Detroit home of prospective parents Margie and Gene White in the fall of 1947, The Cradle agreed that Margie was up to the task (The Cradle worked with adoptive families in multiple states at that time).

“Mothers at that time were viewed as having no boundaries to their abilities,” Stuart says. “Ruth McGee was the social worker assigned to my family. In doing the home visits, I’m certain she had many things to look for: Could this woman who was blind take care of me? Could she change my diapers? Prepare the food? Could she do all the things a person [without visual impairment] does without thinking twice? My dad had a company to run, so could my mother take on all of these challenges without another adult in the house?”

Years later, Margie told Stuart that although Ruth was reluctant at first, she quickly put her reservations to rest. “The Cradle discovered that my mother didn’t have boundaries,” Stuart says with pride.

It was because of his mom that Stuart decided to become more involved with The Cradle and increase his giving to the organization over the years — to honor the remarkable person she was.

Remembering an Incomparable Adoptive Mother

Margaret Jean Cogsdill was born in 1920 with holes in her retinas — an irreparable condition. Her parents never thought of her as having a disability and encouraged her independence. She went to a public school in Detroit that had 80 kids in the classroom. When the family moved to a lakeside community, her parents gave her a canoe, which she paddled solo while her dog Brownie barked from the shoreline to guide her.

Her father, also named Stuart, introduced her to golf — a sport she played passionately until she was 81 — and he would reluctantly pull her behind a motorboat on the lake as she became an accomplished water skier. Margie was also an avid cross country skier — once competing in a Colorado race for skiers who were blind — as well as a skater, swimmer and fisher. The lake was her stage.

Margie earned a degree in economics from Mt. Holyoke College, regularly taking the train to and from Massachusetts on her own. In 1943, she married Gene White, whom she’d met at a party in Grosse Pointe. This was during World War II, and Gene was just days away from shipping out to the Aleutian Islands. The wedding took place in Everett, Washington, where he was stationed at the time.

Starting an Adoptive Family 

During the war years, Margie worked at the Red Cross, took graduate classes at the University of Michigan and worked the switchboard at her father’s company, Cogsdill Tool Products.

Gene returned safely after the war and went to work with his father-in-law at Cogsdill. He and Margie adopted Stuart (named after his grandfather) in 1947. They adopted Stuart’s sister, Cindy, also a Cradle baby, in 1949. Two more children joined the family in 1958 and 1960 through an adoption agency in Michigan.

The Whites were always very open and honest with their children about adoption. “They would tell each of us, ‘You were loved, but your mother couldn’t take care of you and we found you. We chose you,’” Stuart says. Stuart recalls having a vivid imagination as a child and envisioning The Cradle, literally, as a giant cradle that held babies until they were taken out and brought home with a family.

“My mother taught us as little kids how to ride a bike, play golf, water ski and ice skate,” Stuart says. “She also taught us how to fish on the lake, and when we didn’t want to put the worm on the hook, she’d say, ‘Give me that,’ and put it right on. She had no fear about those sorts of things.”

Stuart attended DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. On the first day of classes, he met a girl named Suzie who was also adopted, and who would go on to become his wife. While he was encouraged to join the family business upon graduation, he didn’t feel the corporate life calling to him. It was the late 1960s, and as a socially conscious person, Stuart decided instead to become a teacher. After earning a master’s degree from Syracuse, he and Suzie settled in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Stuart taught middle and high school social studies until 2002.

Margie, meanwhile, was a very active volunteer, serving on numerous nonprofit boards and helping to found a teen center in her community. In 1962, she received the “Exceptional Woman of the Year” award from the Detroit Rotary Club. When Gene White passed away in 1973, Margie stepped in and assumed the chairmanship of Cogsdill Tool. The company relocated to Camden, South Carolina, in 1977, and a year later Margie married William Walters, Cogsdill’s new president.

By the summer of 1992 — after chairing Cogsdill for nearly two decades — Margie, then 72, told Stuart she was tired and wanted him to chair the company going forward. He agreed, and for the next 10 years, while he was still teaching, Stuart shuttled back and forth between Michigan and South Carolina.

Returning to The Cradle and Supporting Adoption Services

In 1987, Stuart made his first visit to The Cradle since his placement 40 years prior. Ruth McGee was still with the agency at that time, and she talked with him about first visiting his parents’ home and how impressed she was by Margie.

Although Stuart didn’t return again until 2013, he came with a renewed interest. He describes The Cradle as “a place of dreams” and is quick to acknowledge what a wonderful life he’s had, thanks in large part to his adoptive parents.

“When it became easier for me to start donating, I did, and the reason I started was to honor Margie White,” Stuart says. “No doubt about it. All the issues she’d gone through — and what made me this OK person — needed some kind of return. Her memory was the reason.”

In addition to serving as chairman of Cogsdill Tool, Stuart also chaired the board of Washtenaw Technical Middle College, a Michigan public school academy that enables high school students to earn college credits. He and Suzie have two children, Megan and Caleb. When he joined The Cradle Board in 2014, he had the unique position as the only “Cradle baby” to be serving.

Margie died in April of 2009, a few months shy of her 89th birthday. The following excerpt from her obituary, written by Stuart, beautifully captures the essence of his incomparable mother:

“The awkward act of folding a contour sheet or cooking dinner for a family of six or putting a worm on the hook for her children in the boat adrift on Orchard Lake or shuffling a deck of cards prior to dealing them to the Bridge players at her table go a long way in explaining how gracefully Margie navigated in her sightless world. Her amazing mind cataloged volumes of data without visual cues. Her fearlessness in a perilous world inspired all who knew her.”

Terry’s Story: A 1946 Cradle Baby

Cradle adoptee Terry is an avid supporter of The Cradle, saying that being adopted has given him an extraordinary perspective on parenting his own children.  

Terry counts July 12, 1946, as one of the luckiest days of his life. Only two months old at the time, Terry was adopted from The Cradle by Herman and Genevieve Hersperger. Three years later, his baby sister, Carren, was also adopted from The Cradle. He says, “I always felt special because my parents told us every night that we were chosen from The Cradle.”

Though both parents are now deceased, Terry says he loved his mom and dad dearly and is forever grateful for the wonderful life they gave him. He and his wife, Joan, have two children of their own. Son Stephen is a surgeon and daughter Janelle is an executive in commercial banking. “Being adopted gave me an extraordinary perspective on parenting my own children,” Terry says. “I had great role models in my adoptive parents.”

Supporting The Cradle

Herman and Genevieve were so grateful to The Cradle that they made a bequest in their will. Terry has done the same and stays in touch with Cradle staff regularly. “I was always proud to be a Cradle Baby and will do anything I can to support The Cradle and other adoptive families. I hope people will make donations on [events like] Giving Tuesday and I am happy to be one of the matching donors!”