Carol Allison Perry

Carol Allison Perry, age 90, entered her eternal rest on February 4, 2026, at the Telford Terrace Nursing and Rehabilitation facility in the Saint Andrews Retirement Community in Richmond, Kentucky. She was predeceased by her husband E. N. Perry, Jr., her parents Robert Brown Jackson and Esther Hammons Jackson, brothers John (Agnes) Jackson and Douglas (Bonnie) Jackson, and infant sister Edith Jackson. She is survived by three nieces: Margaret Carol (Dorian) Yeager, Betty Davis (Johny) Collins, and Rose Anne (John) Harp. Carol Perry was a 1952 graduate of Waco High School, obtained a bachelor's degree and teaching certification in 1955 from Eastern Kentucky State College (EKSC), and earned a master's degree a few years after she began her teaching career.

Carol grew up on the family farm on Flint Road near Waco, Kentucky. She walked through the fields to Waco High School, where she enjoyed singing in the Glee Club, graduating and receiving her high school diploma in 1952. A part of her heart was always on those ridges overlooking the Kentucky River. She shared many favorite memories with friends and family, such as climbing the trees on the farm, fetching water from the spring, and drinking from the same bucket and dipper on the back porch as everyone else.

In 1955, directly after graduating in three years from EKSC, she married E. N. Perry, Jr., and moved to Michigan. She joined E. N. at Custer Elementary School (where he was known as "Ernie") in Monroe, Michigan, as an elementary school teacher. They bought a house in Monroe, where they shared their lives for nearly 57 years before he passed away in 2012. She loved working in her yard and walking through the magnificent tall trees in her neighborhood, the maples showing up yellow and gold in the fall.

She spent much of her time during summers and holidays back at her Kentucky home visiting family. On a hot summer day, she might be seen walking on top of the plank fence with niece Rose Anne, or climbing a tree, or riding her bicycle on Flint Road. Back in Michigan, she and E. N. enjoyed traveling, including cherished trips to Mackinac Island where every Labor Day she walked, down and back, the five mile span of Mackinac Bridge. They loved going to Montana to visit cousins there, touring Canada and Alaska. She and E. N., along with other family members, enjoyed numerous trips to many places in Alaska, seeing the sights and visiting folks with Richmond connections. Joanne and Arthur Potts were special friends whose fellowship they enjoyed, and Joanne regaled them with stories of the Iditarod dogsled race, in which she served as assistant to the director.

When she retired, Carol had amassed 52 years teaching for the Michigan school system. In her retirement years, she enjoyed shopping and socializing with her fellow teacher friends, raising flowers and tomatoes in her yard, and keeping her shrubbery trimmed to perfection. One of her Michigan friends said that Carol completed her earthly journey in typical Carol fashion, quietly with dignity and determination, on her own terms. She was such a strong woman. She always said teaching was her second career choice, her first being to sing opera. She felt she could have done anything. In her words, "I could have raced the Iditarod if I'd been trained for it." But she never regretted her choice of a teaching career, working side by side with her "sweetheart", E. N.

Funeral Service will be conducted at 3 PM Tuesday, February 17, 2026, at Combs, Parsons & Collins Funeral Home. Visitation will be from 1 – 3 PM Tuesday at the funeral home. The service will be livestreamed at www.cpcfh.com. Private committal service and burial will be in the Richmond Cemetery.

The family would like to express their appreciation to the staff of Telford Terrace, to Harry and Sarah D'Haene, and to her special Michigan teacher friends, for loving our Aunt Carol.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations are suggested to Samaritan's Purse, P.O. Box 3000, Boone, NC 28607, or to a favorite charity, in memory of Carol Perry. Giving to the Samaritan's Purse children's ministry Operation Christmas Child would be especially relevant, as Carol loved children and Christmas.