SERVICES HELD FOR MRS. (AUNT FANNIE) PERRY, 100

Funeral services for Carrollton's oldest resident, Mrs. Frances S. (Aunt Fannie) Perry, 100, were held Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in the Highland Baptist Church where she was a member.

Mrs. Perry died in a Farmers Branch hospital Friday after a brief illness. She would have been 101 years old May 5. She lived on the same homestead, 1509 N. Perry Rd., Carrollton, since 1884.

Services were conducted by the Rev. Robert Ridley, the Rev. D. L. Wadley, the Rev. C. B. Stanley and the Rev. C. B. Shadwick.

Mrs Perry was buried in the family Perry Cemetery in Carrollton with Rhoton, Weiland-Merritt Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.
  

Mrs. Perry came to Dallas County from Tennessee as a 10-year-old in 1876 with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. T. M. D. Grimes, and another family who later returned to Kentucky.
 

Eight years later, she married DeWitt Perry, son of a pioneer family who settled in Peters Colony in 1844, and moved to the Perry home place, where she lived until her death.

Although her present house is more than 50 years old, Aunt Fannie had resided in virtually the same spot for the past 82 years. At the rear of the home is a well that dates back more than 120 years.

When she moved to Carrollton, she recalled, "the city consisted of the post office and George Myers' store."

Mr. Perry donated the land for the original high school, now the DeWitt Perry Jr. High, which bears his name.

As one of Dallas County's largest landowners, she donated land for a Carrollton city park, a new Methodist parsonage, and a tract for a community recreation center.

She also made substantial cash gifts to the Walnut Hill Baptist Church, the Coppell Baptist Church and the College Ave. Baptist Church where later became Highland Baptist Church.

The site for the original local church was donated by the Perry family.

In 1951 Mrs. Perry was honored as Carrollton's "Most Useful  Citizen." And in 1963 she was again honored as one of the city's Senior Citizens.

During her 100th birthday celebration last ear, Mayor R. J. McInnish declared an official day honoring Mrs. Perry and folks and friends gathered from all over.

She is survived by a daughter, Mrs. Pearl Gravley, Carrollton; grandchildren, Thurman Gravley, Tyler; Joe Gravley, De Kalb, Texas; Lee Gravley, Wilton Gravley, Milburn Gravley, all of Carrollton; Mrs. Beatrice Spence, Canton; Mrs. Frances Price, Carrollton; Mrs. Dorothy Nichol, McKinney; Mrs Evelyn Jode, Athens; 25 great-grandchildren; 23 great-great-grandchildren.

Pallbeares: Paul Price, Henry Lee Gravley, Arthur Dale Gravley, Tim Nichol, William Cox, Charlie Reid. Family request memorials to Highland Baptist Church or Perry Cemetery Association in care of Burnett Perry, Carrollton. Texas.

CARD OF THANKS
The family of Francis S. Perry wishes to express our deepest gratitude to the many relatives, friends and good neighbors for their thoughtfulness, kindness to all of us for food, flowers and good deeds, to all the nurses and doctor and the staff of Brookhaven General Hospital and to all who had any part in making her passing easier.

Pearl Gravley and Children

The Carrollton Chronicle - Thursday, April 27, 1967
Submitted by Edward Lynn Williams

Dallas Morning News - April 23, 1967

Mrs. Frances Perry preferred to pose by a water well drilled on the Perry homestead in 1844. Tuesday night she was announced as the winner of the Carrollton  Chamber of Commerce's first annual "Best Citizen" award.

CARROLLTON, Texas, Feb. 20. Carrollton Chamber of Commerce's first annual "Best Citizen" awarded went Tuesday night to an 85-year-old pioneer woman who has lived in the same modest home for sixty-seven years. As Chamber President Bill Hall introduced Mrs. Frances Perry, he said: "She was selected as the person who rendered the most unselfish service to this community during the past year. But that ought to be amended to read, 'for the past many years.'" Mrs. Perry, daughter-in-law of the late A.W. Perry who homesteaded on the Carrollton townsite in 1844, was accompanied by her nine grandchildren and fourteen great-grandchildren. Mrs. Perry is one of Dallas County's largest landowners. Only recently she made substantial cash gifts to the Walnut Hill Baptist Church and the Coppell Baptist Church. Last year she gave acreage for a Carrollton city park, land for a new Methodist parsonage, and a tract for a new community recreation center. But these gifts were only a few among many. The entire Carrollton High School campus was a gift to the town by her husband, the late Dewitt Perry, and the pioneer Perry family. They also gave the site of Carrollton's College Avenue Baptist Church. Hall, said Mrs. Perry "never sought publicity but had always responded generously to every worthy cause in Carrollton."  He said no one knew the full extent of her contributions to her home community. The chamber also presented a junior "best citizen" award. It went to Barrett Renfro, Jr., 18-year-old former high school football captain and leader in community religious activities.  Renfro is now a sophomore at North Texas State College where he is preparing for a religious career. Chamber President Hall also announced the election of six new directors: Abe Godfrey, Mrs. Vera Lowrey, Burnett Perry, Les Richardson, W. T. Duncan and Dale Davis. Chief speaker at the banquet was James C. (Jim) Irwin, office manager of the Dallas Coca-Cola Company. Irwin stressed the importance of the chamber's role in planning an orderly industrial and residential development. Growth for Carrollton is inevitable, he said, because of its strategic location between two new Dallas County water plants. The Dallas Morning News - February 21, 1951; pg 1

Submitted by Barrett Renfro

FATHER
D.C. PERRY
Jan. 10, 1858
Aug. 9, 1930
---
MOTHER
FRANCES S. PERRY
May 5, 1866
Apr 21, 1967

Perry Cemetery, Carrollton, Dallas County, Texas