Jean Catherine Perkins

Our Matriarch and “Forever Queen”, Jean Catherine O’Neill Perkins, passed, following a brief illness, on Monday, May 22, 2023, at the age of 90, at home and in the arms of her beloved family. Long before the phrase “when life gives you lemons” became a cliche, Jean cranked out oceans of aspirational lemonade, always concerned that everyone, from kids to co-workers, had a full cup. Born in 1932 to a family in the grip of the Great Depression, she weathered hard times, a world war, and the administrations of fifteen presidents alongside Adrian, her life partner and husband of seventy-three years, who survives her along with her children Michael and Elizabeth, her grandchildren Kelly, Nichole, Joni, Jeffrey, Ryan, Megan and Colin, and her nine great-grandchildren, as well as legions of “adoptees” who were valued like official branches of the family tree.

With her lioness loyalty, her Irish grit and her billion-watt smile, Jean found success in ready-to-wear, real estate, retail, and clerical work, able to bring focus and organization to any task. If there are indeed angels in the next world, she will already have regimented them into a more efficient unit, getting Heaven operating on a paying basis and keeping the place as neat as a pin in the balance. Over the years, she and Dad were a co-holders of the Long-Distance Newlywed title, equal partners in a romance without end.

With her beauty, verve and drive, she might have been given any title, but the one she bore most proudly was simply “Mother”. It’s been said that “the Irish never quit”, and, in looking up the word “tenacity”, you just might find her picture. Her legacy cannot be tallied in mere dollars or awards, but in the hearts of everyone she touched, a value that is, indeed, beyond measure. We have thank her for much, but mainly for building up the strength in all our arms, which at least gives us a fighting chance of lifting the torch she has passed to us. Keep those angels in line, Mother.

Memorials will be private. In lieu of flowers, the Perkins family asks that donations be made in Mother’s name to St. Jude Hospital, a place named for the patron saint of hopeless causes. She found hope in that faith, and would want it extended to everyone, everywhere.