HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998 CS Resident's recall reaches back decades The
olde'n'Eagle
Eagle Printing Co. October 31, 1998 Vol. 9, No. 10
N orthgate memor
CS resident's
recall reaches
i 1 back decades
e. By JODY BATES
Special to The Golden Eagle
a � �" Ten Thomas Perry is gathering
old photos from her mother's
-
X picture album to take to
x x Alabama for a family reunion.
In the midst of her preparation, she
• called to say she found a picture of her
brother and herself in 1930 at
x Northgate. She was 5 years old in this
- photo.
Knowing that I am interested in col -
3 r lecting material about this historical
area . College Staton, she called me.
\‘� w � It is typical of Perry rry to remember oth-
F ers and share, even when she is busy.
= \ 40' \
* t - k - t '' ' Perry was born and reared, married,
raised her family and now retired — all
344-4 . � t in Brazos County.
iA A
� �' ; VI Perry was born in 1925.
} k k . - ' , d " My father rode the trolley from
` ' -` ' .1 Northgate into town, and was almost • w d E late for my arrival. I heard my mother
f f ' tell that story many times , " she said
‘ "
sm iling.
I've roller- skated all over the A &M
• campus, every day in fact until I went
to school. We had iceboxes when I was
1
`'' littl s Mo and all the faculty
toi _ wiv w ent ev ery day to Luke &
? Cha gr store on College iii
Main," recalls Perry.
t
t 4 4 i "An employee, Sam, had a motorcycle
•
\ \
- # with a big box on the back, and he
• would deliver the groceries Mother
t • chose later in the day. With five chil-
44 _ Si dren to feed, as well as the household
help, it was a big job every day."
Her mother was Mabel Claire Thomas
of Alabama. Her father was the Texas
= state entomologist at the Agricultural
Golden Eagle photo/ Jody Bates Experiment Station, Frank L. Thomas.
Helen Perry, 73, works on an oil historic College Station home. Perry They lived on campus in a modest
painting in her home studio. She has has shared her gifts and talents with frame house, three in from the corner of
various award - winning works hung on schoolchildren and adults in Brazos
the walls here and throughout her County for 50 years. Turn to REMEMBER, Page 11
Remember "He was from Virginia. We married
before the end of the war, and we were
first stationed in the Panama Canal."
[From 1 They later returned to College
Station, where Perry taught mechanical
Throckmorton, and went to church ser- engineering for 47 years at Texas A &M.
vices in the YMCA building.
The construction of Texas 6 at the "Mrs. Ivey, wife of the barber and a
back of the campus and the emergence trained nurse, took care of all the cam -
of the car in importance caused the pus women and actually moved in for
campus to "flipflop," with the main two weeks when you had a baby," said
entrance and academic building built Perry, who used her three times — for
facing east. the birth of John, Judy and Joan.
"By 1940, when the college was mov- Perry taught fourth grade in the ele-
ing the faculty off campus, my parents mentary school that is now the College
built a two -story home on Walton Drive Station Conference Center and later
leading from the Eastgate. started the art department at A &M
"By then, I could drive, and I would Consolidated High School, teaching for
take my friends to Northgate, and seven years.
Lipscomb's Pharmacy actually had curb
service for cokes and milk shakes,"
Perry remembers with a laugh and a Life after retirement
twinkle in her eye.
Then, after retiring, she taught art
privately and serves as judge for art
Hair - raising story? shows.
Could she be thinking about the She received a degree from Texas
Dutch bob hair cut she got at Ivey's Woman's University in 1945 and has an
Barber Shop? art scholarship there
p given annually in
"No, I was thinking about the beauty her nam .
shop being in back of the barber shop
and the hanging machine that was She has had her artwork shown in
wired into your hair for a permanent. New York, Dallas and Houston.
"Ugh! How terrified I was that every- "W have traveled in England and
thing would burn up. Italy, and those opportunities influence
"Next door was A.M. Waldrop's high- my paintings to this day," Perry said.
class clothing store, a branch of the
Bryan department store. Many wed- She was named by the Arts Council
dings and church services were held in as "most valuable member of the Art
the Northgate Campus Theater," she League in 1982" and again in 1988 as
remembers. "most outstanding contributor to the
arts in the Brazos Valley" with the
Andy Anderson Award.
A potential husband arrives
She was a "notable woman of Texas
Perry met her husband, John V. 1984" for her Texas art, and her pen &
Perry, in Sbisa Dini,ng Hall when he ink drawing of her childhood home was
arrived as part of the Army that was included in the 1989 Sesquicentennial
being given special engineering train- Calendar and now hangs in the foyer of
ing in World War II. the College Station Conference Center.