Ione Ann Perrine

Ione Ann Pittman Perrine was born in Annona, Texas on May 3, 1917. Her father (William Pittman) owned the local General Store and was a true "country fiddler". Ione's mother, Ester Moseley was a very busy homemaker. She graduated from high school and later attended East Texas State Teachers' College and after her money ran out, Paris Junior College. She spent the war years working as a secretary in Dallas, and during that time met Nat Smith Perrine, a young Army officer and multi-talented musician. They were married in January of 1946 and almost immediately, they were transferred to China where he was the aide-de-camp to Chiang Kai-Shek. As the wife of an officer travelling in high international circles, she took it upon herself to host numerous cocktail parties and state dinners, and it was during these years that she acquired many beautiful pieces of Chinese artwork carved from ivory, bone and other materials. Her first child, Nat Smith Perrine III (Skip) was born in the fall of 1947 in Nanking, China, and Ann came along 4 years later in Washington, D.C. where Ione's husband was assigned to the Pentagon. Later assignments took the 4 Perrines to Tokyo, Japan and then to Frankfurt and Mannheim, Germany. The Colonel and his family retired in Austin in 1961, where he passed away very unexpectedly in June of 1969. Ione (known by her friends as 'Toni') then worked as a secretary for Lutheran Social Services for a while, followed by several years of civil service work for the Senior Army Advisors' Office at Camp Mabry. Following her retirement, she travelled with a cousin to Canada and to Portugal, and spent most of her time dabbling in painting landscapes as well as reading mysteries and helping her daughter and son-in-law to raise two active sons. She will long be remembered for love of her family and of various kinds of art and music. Her gentle spirit and kindness will be sorely missed. The family would like to thank Heart to Heart Hospice of Austin and especially to Rose for her care and loving spirit during Ione's final days.