Alla Perry

1927 - 2013

PERRY
Alla Virginia Perry, a longtime Odessa and San Antonio resident, died peacefully Friday evening in a San Antonio hospice.
Loving family and friends gathered in San Antonio Saturday for a memorial service celebrating her life.
Virginia, who was 86, was married 63 years to Robert Charles "Bob" Perry. They were the parents of four sons.
Virginia was an honored teacher for several decades in Odessa, primarily at Odessa Permian High School, from which all four of her sons graduated. Her husband, Bob, who died in 2008, was a pharmacist and member of the University of Oklahoma's Pharmacy School's Hall of Fame.
Virginia was born to Frankie and Tolbert Sparkman in Childress on Feb. 22, 1927. Her father, Tolbert, was a well-known auto and airplane mechanic.
In the 1930s, Virginia's family settled in Oklahoma City where she graduated from Putnam City School. In the early 1940s (during World War II), Virginia Sparkman entered the University of Oklahoma in Norman at age 16.
While at OU, Virginia Sparkman met Bob Perry at a dance. At the time, Bob was a trainee at the Naval Air Station in Norman. That night, she would later relate to her sons, she told her roommate, "That's the man I'm going to marry." They were married July 12,1945.
After Bob was discharged from the Navy in late 1945, they returned to Oklahoma, both enrolling at their beloved University of Oklahoma under the GI Bill. They received their bachelor's degrees in 1949, Virginia in business education, Bob in pharmacy.
After college, the couple lived in Tulsa and Dewey, Okla., while Bob established himself in the pharmacy business. The couple moved to Texas in 1953, first living in Wichita Falls.
In 1957, they and their four young boys moved to Odessa, where both spent most of their working careers and where their sons essentially grew up. In Odessa, Virginia was a business teacher for almost 25 years.
While teaching in Odessa, Virginia studied for her master's at both Sul Ross State and then at Texas Tech, from which she received an M.A. in business education. While in Odessa, Virginia and Bob were active members of First Baptist Church, as were their four sons.
Virginia was among the pioneer women who juggled family obligations and working. Even when her sons were young, she operated a tax service out of her home.
Virginia and Bob enjoyed retirement, focusing on grandchildren and driving their Airstream motor home to University of Oklahoma football games.
Survivors include two brothers, Roy Lee Sparkman and his wife Patsy of the Amarillo area, and Gene Sparkman and his wife Carlene of Houston; four sons and their wives: Phil and Neleatha Perry of San Antonio, Jim and Wanda Perry of Beaumont, David and Rosie Perry of Columbus, Ohio, and Mike and Cindy Perry of Alpine; Phil and Neleatha's four children, Trisha Gately and her husband Matt of Austin, Rob Perry and his wife Carla of San Antonio, Zach Perry (a cadet at the Air Force Academy) and Nick Perry (a student at Texas A&M); Jim and Wanda's daughter and granddaughters, Jessica Latino and her girls, Emily, Alise and Kate, all of Lumberton; David and Rosie's daughter, Jackie Bradley and her husband Josh of Columbus, Ohio.

GRAVESIDE SERVICE
MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2013
10:00 A.M.
HILL COUNTRY MEMORIAL GARDENS


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the Guestbook at
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