[7] At the 1939 national (AAU) junior championships Perkins placed third in the hammer and second in the 56-pound weight throw; both were won by Stan Johnson, a fellow Maine thrower.
[18] During the last years of World War II he served in the United States Navy,[3][18] but started suffering from serious health problems, including meningitis and poliomyelitis.
[2][3] After recovering and receiving his discharge from the Navy in 1945 Perkins embarked on a new career as a physician, returning to Bowdoin for a one-year pre-medical course and then enrolling at Tufts University School of Medicine.
[18] Later, he moved to Portland, where he specialized in cardiology and internal medicine;[2] in 1965, he received the A. H. Robins Award for outstanding community service by a Maine physician.
[24] His canoe capsized, and in heavy clothes in the cold water he was unable to swim to safety;[24][25] although he was presumed to have drowned, his fate was not known with certainty until his body was found washed up on the shore in Blackville, New Brunswick some time later.