Mary Perkins running PR. She has admitted donning disguises and visiting Specsavers stores, posing as a customer. Perkins was made an honorary fellow of Cardiff University in 2005. The same year she received the "Rotary International Community and Vocational Service Award" for her services to charity and in 2006 won the inaugural Spirit of everywoman Award. Perkins was the first female optician in the UK to receive the title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2007. The accolade was also in recognition of her other charitable work, including the Guernsey annual "Specsavers Liberation Tea Dance for
Mary Perkins (nurse) service when her brother was injured in the war. Perkins married Andrew Perkins in April 1865. She died on November 18, 1893. Mary Perkins (nurse) Mary Perkins (May 5, 1839 – November 18, 1893) was a Union nurse during the American Civil War. Perkins was born on May 5, 1839, in Brewer, Maine. She later moved to Enfield, Maine until the outbreak of the Civil War. Perkins enlisted in 1861 as a nurse for the 11th Maine Volunteer Infantry. Shortly after, she accompanied the regiment to Washington, D.C., where she served at Brigade Hospital. In March 1862, the regiment moved,