Mary Jane Perry

Mary Jane (Gorham) Perry left this world in the early morning of May 29, 2026, at the age of 84. She lived a full life, loving family and friends dearly; serving with distinction in her career of public and community service; and remaining curious and creative throughout her life.

Mary Jane was born on November 22, 1941 in San Antonio, Texas to Winnie Mae (Person) Gorham and Charles Henry “Pete” Gorham, high school sweethearts raised in Karnes City, Texas who became school teachers. Her father taught high school Vocational Agriculture and her mother taught Home Economics and, later, 3rd grade for decades. Her sister Ann was born in 1946.

The Gorhams lived in Karnes City, where they had a large extended family and a nearby farm, through Mary Jane’s 8th grade year. Her life revolved around school, the Methodist Church, Girl Scouts, and 4-H, through which she raised champion capon and sheep. In 1956, her parents moved to Bloomington, Texas to take new teaching jobs, and Mary Jane attended Bloomington High School where her father worked. She was active in many activities, playing the flute in the band, being a majorette, acting, winning UIL awards for Poetry Recitation, and serving in Future Teachers, Future Homemakers, and Rainbow Girls. She was voted a Class Favorite senior year for her Class of 1960.

Mary Jane continued her education at Victoria Community College, then at the University of Texas at Austin, where she majored in Journalism. She was on the Daily Texan staff from 1962-64. She was selected for Theta Sigma Phi, an honorary society for women journalists, tapped to the honorary Orange Jackets service organization, and was in Gamma Phi Beta sorority. Mary Jane was also active in Young Democrats, where she met her future husband, David L. Perry.

Mary Jane graduated from UT in 1964 with a B.A. in Journalism and minor in Political Science. She and David married in 1965. She worked for State Senator Bill Patman and for the UT System Comptroller while David attended UT Law School.

After David’s graduation from law school in 1967, Mary Jane and David moved to Corpus Christi, Texas for his first legal job, and in 1968 and 1971, daughters Ann and Mary Lee were born. There, while raising the girls, Mary Jane was a board member and spokesperson for the local League of Women Voters, worked on local and statewide political campaigns, and wrote features for the Corpus Christi Caller-Times newspaper.

In 1980, David and Mary Jane divorced, and Mary Jane moved with the girls to Scottsdale, Arizona to be closer to her sister Ann and her family. There, Mary Jane began working with the Arizona Democratic Party and soon joined the staff of U.S. Senator Dennis DeConcini, ultimately serving as the Deputy Director for his state offices until his retirement in 1995. Later, she worked for the City of Mesa, Arizona with the Gang Intervention Project and Police Department, and was active in the Soroptimist Club until her own retirement in 2007.

Mary Jane’s years with Senator DeConcini were incredibly happy and personally fulfilling. Her role included many duties, but she had a passion for working immigration cases. Once, while on a trip with her daughters, she made a detour with the help of U.S. Embassy staff to Khao-I-Dang Cambodian refugee camp on the Thai-Cambodian border to check on the welfare of a young girl who was the subject of one of her cases. Mary Jane’s commitment to her cases did not go unnoticed. She received awards from the Arizona Refugee Council, the Arizona International Refugee Consortium, and the Arizona Immigration Bar and Service Community. Several families continued to correspond with her to the present day, decades after her help. Mary Jane was blessed to do this work among an incredible staff team. The DDC staff were incredibly close knit, keeping in contact with each other to this day. Several of Mary Jane’s colleagues even travelled from Arizona to Austin to visit her in recent years, lifting her spirits immensely.

Mary Jane was creative and curious throughout her life. Her creative pursuits included gourmet cooking in multiple international cuisines, traveling abroad to learn more, and even working as a pastry chef for the Hyatt for several years. She was a prolific needle pointer and knitter, leaving treasures of afghans, pillows, and Christmas ornaments. She was curious about other cultures, delving deep into Mexican history, culture, folk religion, and art beginning in her Corpus Christi days, and later, once residing in Arizona, going just as deeply into Native American cultures. She collected Native American art, in some cases becoming friends with the artists whose work she loved, and was a member of the Guild at Phoenix’s Heard Museum. She loved theatre, especially Shakespeare, reading his plays extensively, and cherished annual trips to the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s “Camp Shakespeare,” where she saw multiple plays in a week and which she attended for over 20 years. She was well versed in foreign films, methodically studying the works of major directors. She travelled widely including in Africa, East Asia, Eastern and Western Europe, Mexico, and the United States.

In 2012 after a health episode, at Ann and Mary Lee’s suggestion, Mary Jane moved to Austin, where she still had friends and where Ann lived. She lived independently and actively for six years there until a stroke in 2018 necessitated a move to assisted living. During the next five years, Mary Jane adjusted to her “new normal,” replacing handicrafts and cooking with art history lectures, UT Football, and political activism with friends at her assisted living facility, who protested various issues on their facility’s street corner in their wheelchairs. She enjoyed teaching her grandchildren how to cook key family recipes and exposing a new generation to Shakespeare, art, and other cultures.

In 2023, Mary Jane had another serious health event which required a move to skilled nursing. Ever creative, Mary Jane said she “cooked in her sleep.” She also continued to enjoy UT Football as well as Shakespeare, through her library of videotaped plays.

Mary Jane treasured her family and friends. Losing both of her parents at the time she herself became a parent, she truly valued her relationships and never failed to let others know how much she loved them, especially her two daughters and five grandchildren. She was an incredibly thoughtful and sentimental person who made every event special and made everyone feel special. She was the keeper of family history, leaving her daughters with an extensive genealogy archive and biographies she wrote about multiple ancestors. She was also a wonderful aunt, friend, colleague, and mentor. She maintained close relationships with friends and family from Karnes City, Bloomington, the University of Texas, Corpus Christi, and Arizona until the end of her life, many of whom are like family to Ann and Mary Lee. Mary Jane also enjoyed being a grandparent with David and his wife Rene Haas and sharing in the milestones of their grandchildren together.

Mary Jane was preceded in death by her beloved parents and younger sister, Margaret Ann (Gorham) Smith Pohlman, her grandparents Carl Caldwell Person and Mary Frances “Mamie” (Coleman) Person, and her aunt Helen “Hetty” Gorham.

Mary Jane is survived by her daughters, Ann O’Connell (Doug) of Austin, TX and Mary Lee Austin (Jeremy) of Amherst, MA; five grandchildren: Elizabeth and Finley O’Connell, and Ruby, Ella, and Walker Austin; niece Carly Smith (Steve Caniglia) of Phoenix, AZ and nephew Leroy Smith (Liz Pagano) of Ruidoso, NM; grandnephews Leo and Bodie Caniglia; David L. Perry and Rene Haas; and many dear and close friends.

Mary Jane’s ashes will be interred beside her parents and grandparents at the Karnes City Cemetery at a later date. Ann and Mary Lee thank the staff at the Parc at the Village at the Triangle and the staff at the Arbour at Westminster for excellent care of Mary Jane in her last years.

For those wishing to make a memorial contribution, Ann and Mary Lee suggest the Herberger Theater (www.herbergertheater.org) or Southwest Shakespeare Company (www.swshakespeare.org).