James Calvin Perry

He graduated from Pollack High School in 1955. After high school he attended college at Southwestern Louisiana Institute in Lafayette, LA where he received a degree in Electrical Engineering in December 1959, and where he was also commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force.

Calvin married Mary Alice Racop in January 1960 in Lawrenceville, IL, and they were happily married for 47 years. They immediately moved to Denver, CO, where Calvin served as a Titan Missile officer with the US Air Force until 1963. Cal had a wonderful career as an electrical engineer, working at the famous Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, and for Lockheed at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. He designed communication systems for many of the Apollo space flights, including Apollo 11, when man first landed on the moon. Later, Cal learned Russian, in order to work a few years with visiting Soviet engineers on the Apollo-Soyuz space module. Cal spent the last years of his career at Ethyl Corporation, a chemical manufacturing plant in Pasadena, TX, where he supervised all electrical power, then all plant maintenance,and finally all plant manpower. Calvin continued to serve his country, serving as an officer in the USAF Reserves, as a civil engineer, from 1969 to 1989, and retiring as a Lt. Colonel.

Cal was a musician, and actively played both the guitar and the acoustic slide guitar, also known as a Dobro. He played with the Bay Area Blue Grass Association, and a number of blue grass bands. He was also a member of the Gospel Joy band for nearly 10 years, based at Clear Lake Presbyterian Church.

Cal married Glenda Bransford Brockett in May 2008, and they had a wonderful 5 years together, dancing, traveling, and loving life together.

Calvin was preceded in death by his parents Gordon and Georgia Perry; his brother Lamar “Bud” Perry, and his wife, Mary Alice Perry.

Calvin is survived by his wife Glenda Perry; his daughter Linda Smariga (and Russ Smariga); his son David Perry (and Kim Perry), and his son Calvin Perry (and Jennie Perry); his grandchildren Kathleen, Taylor, Sarabeth, Laura, Trevor, Lauren, Grant, and Kristin; his brothers Julian and David Perry, his sister Norma Heacox, and his loving nieces, nephews and numerous other relatives.