Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 12A
BARROW JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2011
100 years in the making:
Ellen Davis Perry
By Helen Person
helenperson@windstreain.net
T he Roaring Twenties.
The Great Depression.
The Big One: WWII.
The Fabulous Fifties. The
Turbulent Twentieth. The
Technology Boom of the
Twenty-First Century. Living
through any of those eras pro
vides a wealth of nostalgia
for anyone, but to hear about
having lived through them all,
you'll want to listen to soon-
to-be centenarian Ellen Perry.
More than a lifetime of
happy memories hardly
describes the century of events
that composes the life of Ellen
Davis Perry. The Jackson
County native, longtime resi
dent of Winder, Navy wife,
mother of five, and locally
renowned cook is celebrat
ing a hallmark most people
only can hope to live to see.
For Miss Ellen, “reaching 100
is okay, but everybody's just
making such a big deal out of
it.” On October 29th, a lot of
people will be making a big
deal out of a milestone not
just everyone can claim.
An animated storytell
er, Miss Ellen’s eyes fairly
sparkle as she recounts tales
of her Jackson County child
hood milking cows and walk
ing three miles to school.
Ellen was the fourth oldest
of 13 children born to the late
Zipporah Hayes Davis and
her husband Thomas Purdy
Davis. The Davises had six
boys and seven girls.
To understand Ellen Perry,
one needs to know a little
about her family. “Papa
Davis was son of a Spanish-
American soldier,” Miss
Ellen recounted recently.
“His father’s last name was
Watson, but when he went to
war and never returned, my
grandmother remarried and
took the name Davis for her
self and my daddy.”
The Davis children were
raised on their parents'
Jackson County farm. The
house they lived in is a white
frame farm house on Jefferson
River Road. The house will
soon celebrate its 100th birth
day, as well, and the owners
are planning a big party to
commemorate the event.
“I loved that house,” Miss
Ellen said. “It had lots of land
— pastures where we had
livestock.” The Davis family
sold the house to a new owner
a few years ago, but kept in
touch with the new owners.
As a child, Miss Ellen
played with cousins from
the Harris side of the family.
Her grandfather's brother was
Young Harris who endowed
Young Harris College in the
north Georgia mountains.
She recalls that her older sis
ters played with dolls, so she
wanted to play, too.
“They had their big dolls
with buggies,” she said. “They
would give me a little doll.
Then they’d run off and leave
me.”
Her mother's grandmother
— Maw Hayes — lived on
a plantation. When Ellen’s
mother - the family called her
“Zip” - was a little girl, she
played with the slave children
that lived there. “Maw Hayes
said she went to hunt Zip
one day,” Miss Ellen recalled.
“She found her down with
the black people eating sup
per with them. She loved to
play with the children of the
people who worked on the
plantation.”
According to Miss Ellen's
daughters - Marie Perry Wall
of Arizona and Beth Perry
Jackson of Jefferson - their
mother’s local fame has come
more from her hospitable
nature accompanied by serv
ing platters laden with delec
table food.
“Mother’s fed the world,”
Beth shared about her moth
er. “She's always taken food
to folks that were sick, new
mothers with babies, folks
in the hospital. She'd always
cook good food with fresh
vegetables. We always had
good food and good bread.”
Miss Ellen says that she
was just doing what girls were
raised to do. Cooking for
the family and whoever else
might happen to be around
was just part of life at the
Davis house, according to
Miss Ellen. With at least 15
people to feed at every meal,
the girls were taught to cook
at an early age.
She recalls picking straw
berries and blackberries with
her mother in a hundred acre
field. “We'd pick blackberries
with a big ol’ black snake
hanging over the branch.”
“I’d make the cornbread
in a big dishpan and put it
in a wood stove,” she said.
“Papa would make the coffee
and leave the fire burning so
we could cook on the stove.
Mama would make a big pan
of sweet potatoes that we’d
eat when we got home from
school. I loved what we had
when we were on the farm.”
When Ellen Davis married
Mack Perry, he was already in
the U.S. Navy. He had joined
the Navy in 1920 shortly after
his 20th birthday, she recalled.
“He only weighed 108 pounds.
He had to eat green bananas
and drink water so he’d weigh
enough to qualify.”
Raised in the Farmington
community south of Athens,
Perry was one of 11 chil
dren born to the Perry family.
When Mack was a teenager,
an influenza epidemic took
the lives of his father and
the next youngest Perry child.
Mack had to find work that
would support his mother and
nine siblings. So he joined the
Navy where he served for the
next 32 years.
Mack and Ellen Perry were
married on September 7,
1929, and the new Mrs. Perry
became a Navy wife follow
ing her husband wherever he
was based. Their first base
was in Philadelphia, but over
the next two decades, they
lived in New York, Norfolk,
Baltimore, Charleston (SC)
and San Diego.
"My Navy life was better
than what I had at home. It
was great,” Miss Ellen remem
bered for this story. The Navy
years were a departure for
a farm girl from Jackson
County, Georgia. It was excit
ing with new places, faces,
and ways of life to sample.
The Navy wives leaned on
each other for support when
their husbands were at sea.
“We all got together when our
husbands were out on maneu
vers,” she recollected. “We all
belonged to card clubs that
met at different houses. We
played a lot of Setback and
Bridge.”
The war years defined one
of the most memorable peri
ods of Ellen Perry's life. She
recalled that her husband was
at Pearl Harbor during the
infamous 1941 attack that
catapulted the United States
into the war.
“Mack was at Pearl Harbor.
He helped rescue a number
of the survivors,” she said.
“He said it was horrible. His
brother was on one of the
ships.”
Miss Ellen said that her
husband’s ship also rescued
FOND MEMORIES
Ellen Perry describes her childhood at the Davis farm house. The watercolor paint
ing hangs in her suite at Mulberry Grove in Statham.
ANOTHER MILESTONE
Daughters Marie Perry Wall (far left), and Beth Perry Jackson joined their mother for
her 98th birthday celebration in 2009.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
Ellen and Mack Perry on September 7,1979 on their 50th wedding anniversary. Son
Mack Jr and daughters Marie and Beth (far right) joined their parents for the celebra
tion.
IP
i
FAMILY PHOTO
The Perrys in 1935 with son Jack and daughter Joyce.
a number of soldiers at Iwo
Jima. One of the Marines
brought from Iwo Jima was
George Smith from Winder.
Perry served mostly on air
craft carriers though it was a
military police ship that res
cued the Iwo Jima survivors.
The mother of five learned
resilience as she adjusted
to life in the different states
where her husband was sta
tioned. She shared that she
followed her husband around
with children in tow. “They
were all born in different
states,” she said noting that
daughter Joyce was bom in
Virginia, eldest son Jack in
New York, second son Mack,
Jr. in San Diego.
Daughter Marie was born
while her father was in
Germany during World War
II. “Marie was a ‘War Baby’,”
she said. Her daddy came to
Atlanta on leave when she
was about three months old.
It was the first time he’d seen
her.”
During the war years, fami
lies in military towns often
rented rooms or apartments
they’d created in their houses.
It didn't make sense to buy
a house when the Perry fam
ily knew their stay would be
temporary.
“We'd rent a furnished
apartment for about $30 a
month. Servicemen didn't get
much pay back then,” Miss
Ellen explained.
She noted that it always
helped to find other
Southerners when stationed
outside of the southern states.
“When we were in New York,
we made friends with a couple
whose last name was Frost.
She was from New York, but
he was from Georgia. They
were nice, but a lot of north
ern people seemed to look
down on us because we were
from the South.”
But because Ellen and Mack
were from the South, Perry
was always inviting “home
boys” to their home for sup
per. Ellen became renowned
around the Navy bases for her
wonderful Southern cooking
that helped some homesick
sailors endure being so far
from home.
By October of 1950, Mack
Perry had served three decades
of service to his country. He
had achieved the rank of Lt.
Commander before his retire
ment. The Perry family moved
to Winder where Lt. Cdr. Perry
became Chief of Police Perry
as he took the helm of the
Winder Police Department.
Youngest child Beth was born
in Winder at the old Winder-
Barrow Hospital in 1951.
They purchased the white
frame house on Alexander
Street where the family lived
until Miss Ellen moved in
2009 to Mulberry Grove
Assisted Living in Statham.
She continues to reside at
Mulberry Grove where she
has earned the distinction
as the oldest resident of the
retirement community. She
reminisces that her house
burned in April of 2010, the
same month that her only sur
viving brother passed away.
“I'd have been cremated had I
been in that house,” she said.
“I could never have gotten
out.”
As Ellen Perry prepares
for her 100th birthday, she
waxes philosophical about her
life and how she reached this
milestone.
See Perry on Page 13A
WINDER: 186 WEST ATHENS ST., 770-867-3925
LOGANVILLE: 275 HWY. 78. 770-466-1991
Kentucky 31
Tall Fescue
Lawn Seed
50-lb. Bag
53999
Bulldog
Grazer
Ryegrass
50-lb. Bag
$3*|99
Drought resistant. Handles
traffic well. Easy to
establish and economical!
Developed at the University of Georgia, Bulldog
Grazer Ryegrass features excellent cold tolerance
and high yields. Top choice for for winter grazing.
We Sell
Wheatstraw!
Large, clean bales!
5
all Mums
.ocally grown and bursting with blooms!
10-10-10
All-Purpose
Fertilizer
Big 40-lb. Bag
$12"
Geat for use on flowers,
gardens, shrubs, and trees.
Hometown Service Since 1947!
piMnanm
LAWN AND
GARDEN
FERTILIZER
10-10-10
UIII’qI ilCE Hardw
are &
Center
Fall is the time for Planting
& Emil is here to HELP!