A Gift of Gratitude

When Gem Rigsby was 67, the acclaimed herbalist, artist, and author found herself unable to read, write, or even speak.

Upon waking up from surgery for a benign brain tumor the size of a plum, Gem’s words were jumbled, and she was told she might not ever be able to read or write well again. Gem, now 84, had already written, illustrated, and published a book of spiritual devotionals called Herb Seed for Thought, which she says was inspired by the ways she felt the divine reflected in her garden. She also was a pioneer in Texas, founding an herb farm that supplied fresh herbs to the most acclaimed chefs and restaurants in the state. Herb Seed for Thought made such an impression that Gem was invited to read from it at the Washington National Cathedral in observance of the 1999 National Day of Prayer. 

Days after returning home from “one of our nation’s most sacred places,” where Gem says she had “one of the most meaningful experiences of my life,” and a day before her 40th wedding anniversary (with husband Terry Rigsby), Gem underwent the brain surgery that removed a tumor but left a wake of other challenges. Knowing that she was a writer and painter, Gem’s surgeon at UTMB in Galveston, Dr. Jeffrey Chen, challenged her: “Prove me wrong, Gem!” he said. “Write that next book!” 

To do that, Gem would need to relearn everything she loved – gardening, painting, reading, writing. “The doctor would say, ‘Does your head hurt?’ and I would have to ask, ‘What part of me is that?’

“Reading is still and always will be extremely difficult,” Gem says. “When I’m tired or upset, I use wrong words that sound right to me but aren’t. Proper nouns and numbers are especially complex.” It took three years for Gem to learn the alphabet and how to count on her fingers.

As she recovered, Gem painted. “I played with the paint,” she says. “Remembering the names of the faces I was painting wasn’t as important as what I was seeing with my eyes.” 

Not so suddenly, Gem found herself with a studio full of watercolors. Over 15 years, she sketched her four children, nine grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, friends, and neighbors. She surveyed her collection of artwork, and a new project began to take shape. 

THERE IS A LITTLE TOE Gem Rigsby wrote and illustrated the children’s book There Is a Little Toe, helping children learn the names of ears and fingers and toes, just like she had to relearn the basics after undergoing a brain surgery.

Gem’s next book, the one that Dr. Chen challenged her to write, came to life. There Is a Little Toe was born. “I promised the Lord if he would let me learn to read again, I would write another book and make it for children,” Gem says. 

“In the book, I could share what I was learning with tiny children, on their level, helping them learn the names of ears and fingers and toes right along with me.” The book, she says, is about “all the ways our bodies make us the unique people God created us to be.”

Gem’s daughter, designer Lana Rigsby, is proud of the way her mom turned hardship into something beautiful. “The book is uplifting and inclusive, depicting children of all shapes, sizes, and colors,” she says. It’s also bilingual: each page is printed in both English and Spanish.

Granddaughter Annie Powell, a senior at The University of Texas at Austin, says of the book, “It’s almost like a memory book of my family, and it brings back a lot of memories of times spent at my grandmother’s farm. There’s a painting of me brushing my teeth!”

There Is a Little Toe is not for sale – Gem donates copies, or, if the book is purchased from her website, she donates the money to missionaries in Indonesia. Last fall, after Gem took a case of books to Texas Children’s Hospital, they commissioned a special edition of 200 copies of There Is a Little Toe to be placed in the Pi Beta Phi Patient/Family Library and more than 150 Book Nooks in the TCH system. Gem started a GoFundMe to cover costs of the special print, and it was fully funded by friends and family in less than a week. She and Lana personally delivered the books to the hospital.

Just like Herb Seed for Thought, There Is a Little Toe ends with a prayer: For all the things my body does that makes me so unique, I say a little prayer of thanks for all that makes me, me.

“I am very grateful for the gift of this new life and for every responsibility this new life has given to me,” Gem says. “We all have gifts. What is your gift? How can you use it to help someone else?”

To learn more about Gem and There Is a Little Toe, go to gemrigsby.com.