William A. Perry

William Austin Perry, a gunsmith, cabinetmaker and carpenter, died at Memorial Hospital at Easton, surrounded by his family, Wednesday evening, April 6, 2011. He was 60. Born in Easton on July 11, 1950, he was the son of Elizabeth Haden Perry and William Arthur Perry. His mother died in 1958. His father died in 1996. As a youngster, he was a paper boy for The Star Democrat and played on Easton Little League baseball and football teams. He was a 1968 graduate of Easton High School, where he had competed on the track and field, and cross country teams. He played the trumpet in the Easton High School Band, winning the John Philip Sousa Award in his senior year. Over the years, he often played at weddings and at church concerts and services. He attended Chesapeake College, where he played on the college’s first soccer team in 1968. Mr. Perry then attended The Colorado School of Trades in Denver, Colo., where he studied gunsmithing from 1970 to 1972. After completing his training there he returned to Easton and worked for a time at the Gun Shop before becoming an independent gunsmith. For several years he was manager of the Cherry’s sportswear store in downtown Easton. He also had been employed at the Perry Company, a construction company. He had been a volunteer with the Waterfowl Festival since its earliest days, stopping only when he suffered a stroke in 2008. For several years he designed and decorated the stocks for rifles and shotguns given away by the Easton Jaycees during the Festival. He was a longtime member of the Talbot Rod and Gun Club, where he had won several marksmanship competitions over the years. He also had been a marksmanship, handgun and hunter safety instructor with the National Rifle Association, and a hunter safety and shooting instructor in a Maryland Department of Natural Resources hunter safety program. Along with his cousin, David W. Walker of Wittman, Mr. Perry had worked many years as a guide for goose and duck hunters. They had been guides for several years for Jody Powell, press secretary for President Jimmy Carter, at Powell's hunting lodge in Dorchester County. An avid outdoorsman, he enjoyed canoeing , hiking, mountain climbing, biking and camping. Mr. Perry is survived by his stepmother, Elizabeth Rice Perry of Royal Oak; two brothers, Bruce Haden Perry and his wife, Louise, and Bruce Edward Perry and his wife, Patricia, all of Easton; three sisters, Denise Perry Riley and her husband William, of Trappe, and Debra Perry Jackson and her husband, William, and Kimberly Perry Whiteley, and her husband, Tyler Sr., all of Easton. He also is survived by his maternal aunt, Margaret Haden Kipilo of Fulsom, Calif.; seven nieces, Katherine Perry Ewers, Caroline Perry Spurry, Colin Perry, Amber Perry, Courtney Jackson, Faith Whiteley and Kamryn Whiteley, who also was his goddaughter; three nephews, Joshua Perry, Tyler Whiteley Jr. and Brady Jackson; a great nephew, Graham Willis, and two great-nieces, Khloe Smoot and Rhemington Perry. A memorial service will be held at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in Easton on Saturday, April 16 at 2 p.m. At his request, his ashes will be scattered in the harbor at the Caroline County village of Choptank, birthplace of his grandfather, Charles Arthur Perry, and of his great-uncle, William Austin “Buddy” Perry, captain of the ferryboat "Smokey Joe" on Chesapeake Bay., He was named for that uncle. Memorial donations may be made to the Waterfowl Festival Inc., 40 S. Harrison St., Easton, Md. 21601 (designated for the Perry Scholarship Fund), or to the Shore Regional Cancer Center, 509 Idlewild Ave. , Easton, Md. 21601

William A. Perry

July 11, 1950 - April 6, 2011