Sara Perkins was born in Tennville, GA. She studied at Bessie Tift College and Washington College of Music. In 1922 she sailed for China to begin a course in nursing at the Peking Union Medical College; she graduated with an RN equivalency in 1925.

In 1926 Perkins applied to the Board of Foreign Missions (PCUSA). She was assigned to the Douw Hospital in Peiping. She served that hospital for nearly twenty years, eventually becoming Superintendent of Nurses. She was imprisoned by the invading Japanese for six months in 1942-43. Once freed, she resumed her hospital work. In 1951 she was arrested and imprisoned by the Chinese communists. She was freed in 1955 and retired from missionary service two years later.