Stella Claire Marie (Pepin) Perry

Stella Claire Marie (Pepin) Perry was born April 4, 1940, in Lawrence, Massachusetts, the youngest of seven children.  After the death of her mother when she was 8, she was raised as a part of her oldest brother’s family.  Stella attended school in Methuen, Massachusetts.  Stella’s strong personality was evident at an early age, and she was known to have knocked down larger boys foolish enough to taunt the diminutive girl.  Stella graduated from Methuen High School in 1958.  While in high school, Stella started dating the boy from down the street, a talented troublemaker named Walter Perry.  The two became inseparable.  After graduation, Stella worked in a grocery, while Walt attended college on a tuition scholarship.  Finally, after two years, the two decided to join their fates, and they were married on July 23, 1960, in Methuen.  Finances remained scarce as Stella worked to support the couple while Walt finished college.  Shortly before Walt graduated, Stella had their first child, Stephanie.  In addition to becoming a mother, Stella became an Army wife after Walt joined ROTC and received a commission as a second lieutenant in 1964.  Stella would recall how unprepared she was for the military life.  When she was first driving on an Army post, she found it convenient to park in the spaces reserved for “General Officers”, since her lieutenant husband was a “general” officer.  At some point later, she did learn the difference, but always laughed at herself, as she could do when she made a mistake. 

The young family left Massachusetts in 1964 and experienced the Army life for the next 20 years.  Along the way, Stella’s two sons were born, Geoffrey in Frankfurt, West Germany, 1965, and Christopher in Salem, New Hampshire, 1969.  The family moved about with Walt’s assignments, and Stella made the best of the living quarters provided by the military in the 1960s and 1970s (family housing in this time was not known for its quality).  Wherever they lived – Georgia, Louisiana, Virginia, Germany – Stella made sure their home was clean and attractive.   Stella’s personality was well-suited to the military culture.  She knew how to maintain good order and discipline, give orders, and take no gruff from bureaucracy.  At times, Stella was raising the family alone, when Walt was deployed to Vietnam and to Korea.  Although she was for months the only parent present, she did everything for her children, and they will tell you of the things she did to let them know they were loved.  One example was when her 8-year-old daughter wanted horseback riding lessons, and so Stella learned how to ride with her.  Both Stella and Stephanie shared riding and a love for horses from then on. 

But Stella always had more love to share.  When Walt was serving an unaccompanied tour in South Korea, they decided to adopt another child into their family.  Walt worked with an orphanage near where he was stationed and found a young girl, but when Stella learned the young girl had a sister in the orphanage, she insisted on keeping them together, and they adopted Jodie and Kimberly in 1976.    The family of five soon moved to West Point for 4 years and then to Virginia where they left the military in 1984.  Stella settled the family into a house in Alexandria they bought in 1973 during Walt’s first tour in the Pentagon, and had rented since.  Stella made that house their home for the remainder of her life. 

There are many ways to describe Stella.  She was always helping others.  Stella was a devout Roman Catholic and active member of her parish.  She was a long-time volunteer for Meals on Wheels.  She was an avid and successful bridge player, but she went out of her way to help other older players to keep participating, driving them to and from club meetings and tournaments.  She always seemed to be helping her older friends and neighbors, checking on them, running errands, driving them around. 

If you asked her great-grandchildren about their Memere, they will tell you she was funny and happy – because she loved to play with the little ones.  If you asked her grandchildren about their Memere, they would tell you the same thing, but add that you didn’t argue with Memere; you would lose that fight!   She welcomed her sons and daughters-in-law into her family, and she remained close to her family in New England.  Stella was, it is true, talked like an aggressive driver, as those who traveled with her soon learned, but she was in action as deliberate and safe with others when driving as she was with anyone in her care.

Stella was, ultimately, married to Walt, totally committed to their lives together, and a wonderful role model of how to live with and love another person.  She will be remembered by all as a blessed soul who brought good into the world.

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