Arduth J. Perkins

Ardie passed away on Sept 4, 2010 in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Born on February 28, 1927 in Claremont, S.D. to Horace and Elsie Perkins, she attended Claremont High School and the University of MN. In January of 1948 she joined Braniff Airlines as a stewardess and worked out of Minneapolis, Minn. and Kansas City, Mo. until 1955. Her favorite route to fly was Kansas City to New Orleans. She flew on DC-3s and Convairs. She also modeled for Braniff and appeared in newspaper ads and flyers for the airline. After leaving Braniff, Ardie opened a gift shop in Sherman Oaks, Calif. where she worked until 1960 when Bullocks Dept Store approached her to manage the gift shop. In 1967, she was transferred to the downtown LA Bullocks where she became the main buyer for gifts for all stores. She did all the European buying for five years. In 1972 she joined Toscany as the West Coast Sales Manager until she retired in 1994. She lived in the San Fernando Valley (Sherman Oaks and Encino) until 1997 when she moved to Rancho Mirage as a resident of The Springs. Ardie always showed a great interest in clothes and enjoyed dressing for dinner and visiting area restaurants as well as having dinner with friends. Ardie is survived by her loving companion of 47 years, Mary Cole; her brother, Owen and wife Lorna; sister-in-law, Clareen; plus seven nieces and a nephew. She touched the lives of many friends and will be dearly missed. Memorial services will be held at 11:00 AM on October 9, 2010 at the Center for Spiritual Living, 45630 Portola Ave, Palm Desert, CA 92260.