Laurence "Larry" Perkins

1924 - 2020

Laurence "Larry" Perkins

NORTH BROOKFIELD - Laurence "Larry" Perkins, passed away peacefully at home early Wednesday morning with his son Brian L. Perkins and daughter-in-law Diane at his side. He was 95 years, 8 months old. Larry, as all knew him, lived a very full life. Soon after he was born in Milo, Maine, the first of 3 children, his parents moved onto a farm in Milo where he grew up until he left the farm in 1942. He loved people and was one of the gentlest and humblest men of his generation. He was predeceased by his younger siblings Evelyn Perkins and his brother Howard "Ted" Perkins. His first wife of 52 years, Dolores Perkins, also predeceased him 15 years ago, as did his second wife of 13 years, Gwen, whom he married when he was 80 years old and she was 88. She passed away at 101.An active Jehovah's Witness from an early age, Larry keenly enjoyed reaching out to all around him to share the Good News of God's Kingdom – knocking on doors and studying the Bible with interested ones encouraging them to turn to their Bibles for comfort, while never losing his love for personal home visits. Being an avid student of the Bible, he made it his goal to each year read it from Genesis to Revelation. At a young age he took a firm stand as a conscientious objector against a war time conscription, embracing the scriptural counsel to not lift up a sword against his fellow man. For that, he was sentenced to 2 years in Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, CT in the early 1940's. Following his release on parole, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio where he met his first wife, Dolores Utovich. They had 3 children together, Wayne (now lives in California), Darla J. Rust who resides outside of London, England, and his youngest, Brian L. with whom he lived. While continuing with his preaching endeavors in Cleveland, Ohio he took on a position of office superintendent for Blaw-Knox Power Piping Division, setting up the office and hiring construction workers at new construction sites. Due to the type of job he had, he would move his family about every year or so to the next build site. He thus moved his family from Cleveland, Ohio to Waterloo, Iowa; Davenport, Iowa; Birmingham, Alabama; Gary, Indiana; Chesterton, Indiana; and finally, Oswego, New York. He then left the company and moved the family to Bangor, Maine to be closer to his parents. There he worked in the office of the local electric company. His brother Ted invited him to Massachusetts to build houses together and so the move was on again. Larry effectively retired in 1980 accepting an offer for him and his wife to serve at the recently built Natick Assembly Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses where they both served as caretakers, which they did until 1988. Leaving there, they again served their fellow man in the Northbridge, MA area until the death of his first wife in February 2003. In all these moves Larry never lost his zeal for preaching and would do so at every opportunity. After the passing of his first wife he moved to North Brookfield to be closer to his son. He married Gwen (Lombard) in the fall of 2004 and they lived in North Brookfield together until her passing in 2017. When his health began to deteriorate his son and daughter-in-law moved Larry into their home in North Brookfield where he lived until his death. As the door to door ministry became difficult with age, he would write letters to ones in his community encouraging them to look into their bibles for comfort. His favorite remained though of those personal home visits.Besides his children Wayne, Darla, and Brian, Larry leaves behind his grandchildren: Amanda Artusato (California); Alex Perkins (Iceland); Tatiana Perkins (California); Thaddeaus Perkins (California); Philip Rust (England); Jonathan Rust (England); Brian, Jr. (Hopkinton, MA); Bethany Minnick (Florida); Bridgette Ebbeling (Douglas, MA); Stephen Goyette (California); Ryan Dulac (Franklin, MA); and Alyssa Jalbert (Franklin, MA). He also leaves behind many great-grandchildren, and too many friends and "adopted" children to list whom he took under his wing and encouraged to also serve the one living God, Jehovah. He will be dearly missed by all he touched until he is resurrected in the paradise earth he loved to tell others about. The family wishes to thank the Overlook Hospice of Charlton for their outstanding care. Funeral services are private and under the care of Pillsbury funeral Home 44 Gilbert St. North Brookfield.