Thomas (Tom) Glen Perry was born on April 25, 1943. Tom passed away after a good fight with leukemia on February 2, 2020. Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, Tom went to Central High School and graduated from Memphis State University. (That will always be is its real name according to Tom.) Tom met his beautiful wife, Gloria, on a blind date, fell in love, and got married on November 26, 1966. They celebrated 53 years of marriage at his time of death. Tom always had a love for airplanes and flying, so he joined the Air Force and served during the Vietnam War as an air-traffic controller. After being honorably discharged as a Captain, he continued a career as an air-traffic controller for another 11 years after which he went into sales.
Tom lived to please Jesus, and he loved serving the Lord with all of his heart. He absolutely adored worshipping with his church choir. He loved his family (especially his grandkids), his pets, German-chocolate cake, and Wheel-of-Fortune. In fact, he was a contestant! He was a faithful Republican and a hardcore Memphis Tiger fan. He loved anything planes, trains, and automobiles. He was also exceptionally gifted at unintentional, bad dad jokes. He had the best bowling pose in the world and could do the twist like no other. Things Tom did not like were flies, gas prices, Russian meddling, “utterly ridiculous referee calls”, cold coffee, people who ate too fast, Memphis drivers, single ply toilet paper, and the “vanilla yogurt” in the clear cup at the hospital.
His father, Thomas Lloyd, and his mother, Lorena Perry preceded Tom. He leaves behind his wife Gloria, his children, Brian (Monica) and Sonya (Dewayne) Balentine, and his grandchildren, Katlyn (Scotty) Burdick, Daylor (Parker), Duglin, & Perri Balentine, and great-granddaughter, Emilia Burdick. He also leaves behind sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Missy and John Bell, nieces and nephews, and cousins. Vanna and Foxie, his pups, and Delta, his cat were also left behind.
Tom did take one thing with him to heaven. He took his ability to worship the Heavenly Father. He practiced that well here on Earth, and now he puts that bass voice to good use in the vast choirs of the Almighty God as he rejoices with the angels and those who arrived before him. Thomas Glen Perry now knows the perfect elation and joy of experiencing the view of Jesus’ face while singing of His name.
The family will receive friends on Saturday, February 8 at Memphis Funeral Home 5599 Poplar Ave. Memphis, TN 38119 from 12:00PM to 1:00PM with the service celebrating his Life to begin at 1:00PM.
The burial will follow the service in Memorial Park Cemetery.
