Obituary for Rolland Joseph Perry,Class of 1943
Rolland Joseph Perry of Manchester, MA., known for his straight talk as a car salesman, skill as a golfer, and vast repertoire of jokes, died on October 18, 2010, from complications of diabetes and an optic-nerve tumor. He was 85.
Born in Greenfield, MA, on May 5, 1925, Mr. Perry was the son of Sylva Arthur Pare and Alida Josephine Leduc, who had emigrated from Quebec Province, Canada, nine years earlier. After graduation from Greenfield High School in 1943, Mr. Perry enlisted in the US Army Air Corps, where he served as a medical, surgical, and X-ray technician. He received training at Letterman General Hospital in San Francisco before being assigned to the Pacific Theater, where he followed the front from New Caledonia and Guam to the Phillippines. While stationed at Clark Air Base on Luzon Island, he befriended Erlinda Sarcofonio, daughter of a civilian base employee, who had come to him for treatment of an eye infection. When Erlinda was later decapitated in a freak airfield accident, Mr. Perry, then a 20-year-old medical technician, volunteered to reattach the girl's head so Erlinda's family could have an intact body for her funeral.
Following World War II, Mr. Perry married his high school sweetheart, Frances Louise Poirier, also a 1943 graduate of Greenfield High School. Mr Perry worked as parts manager for Little Frank’s Auto Supply and Hartwin Motors, both in Greenfield. When the couple moved to the north of Boston area in the early 1960s, he found employment in Gloucester as assistant parts manager for Whitehead Motors, then for the Sudbay auto dealership, first in the parts department, then as salesman, a position he held until his retirement in the 1990s. A sociable man who genuinely liked and respected his customers, Mr. Perry prided himself on meeting needs rather than simply selling vehicles. He would not sell a Jeep without a rollbar and knew which cars' trunks could accommodate a wheelchair. Generous and personable, Mr. Perry was quick to open his wallet and even quicker to tell a joke.
After his retirement, he played golf, winning several Bass Rocks tournaments, dressed as Santa Claus for Sudbay events at Christmas, and traveled with his wife until her ill health ended that activity. Mr. Perry was his wife's primary caregiver during the last 12 years of her life, when multiple sclerosis confined her to a wheelchair. Besides his wife, who died in 2001, Mr. Perry was predeceased by four brothers -- Gerard, Roger, Richard, and Robert -- and a sister -- Yvette Perry Slauenwhite.
He is survived by four children: Sharron Cohen and her husband, David, of Gloucester, MA, Suzanne Launer and her husband, Alfred, of Sterling, Alaska, Patricia Hul and her husband, Andy, of Columbia, CT., and Christopher Perry of Manchester, MA, with whom he lived; four grandchildren: Nathan Cohen, Julianna and Ryan Hul, and Adam Launer; and one great-grandchild: Jillian Launer.
At Mr. Perry's request, his body was cremated and his ashes commingled with those of his late wife.
posted November 15th, 2010
