On October 8, 1934, Wilbur Ozwald, and Effie Pearl Johnson gave birth to a baby girl, in McKinney, Texas. She was the first of four children to their union, and they named her Lena Pearl, after her aunt and her mother. Her younger sister Jean affectionately called her “Sissy,” the nickname that so many remember.
Young Lena graduated at the top of her class academically, at Doty High School, and later married Roy Perry, Jr. They moved to Arkansas for a short time, while Roy served in the United States Army. Soon after they returned to McKinney, Lena entered the workforce Dallas, and commuted with close friends, who also worked at Texas Instruments. Roy and Lena eventually moved to Dallas.
Having grown up under the tutelage of a Christian grandmother, “Momma Gert,” Lena accepted salvation after she and Roy Jr. moved to Dallas, and joined the Mitchell Street Church of God in Christ. Raising her children, she was a firm believer in Proverbs 22:6 “Teach your children right from wrong, and when they are grown, they will still do right” (The Message Bible).
Mother Perry taught Sunday school to teenage girls at the Mitchell Street Church of God in Christ. She understood the power of God and became a licensed missionary, where she worked and served in the Texas Northeast Jurisdiction of the Church of God in Christ. Until illness obstructed her mobility, she was a committed member of the Potter’s House Church of Dallas.
On Monday, November 11, 2013, the Lord allowed Mother Perry’s spirit to transition peacefully from its earthly habitation, where it will one day receive the great transformation.
Mother Perry’s parents, Wilbur and Effie Johnson, her siblings, Preston Johnson, Charles Johnson, Jean Clayton, and her eldest son, Dwayne Charles Perry, precede her in death. Her husband of 59 years, Roy Perry, Jr., daughter, Shelia Kathleen Cunningham, two sons, Larry Glenn Perry (Tina) and Mario Lynn Perry (Lisa), daughter-in-law, Lolita Mills-Perry, nine grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, and a host of nieces, nephews, relatives, and friends, survive her.
A funeral service will be held at 12:00 p.m., Monday, November 18, 2013 at Potter’s House, 6777 W. Kiest Blvd., Dallas, Texas, with Pastor Rodney Derrick officiating. Interment will follow at Ridgeview Memorial Park in Allen, Texas. The family will receive friends during a visitation on Sunday from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Turrentine-Jackson-Morrow Funeral Home in Allen, Texas.