Virginia Perkins

Iris Virginia Kennedy was born December 21, 1924. She was delivered by the sharecropper’s wife, Lila, on her father’s farm in Simpson County, Mississippi. Virginia’s father was Ethel Kennedy (“Et”) and her Mother was Nancy Leona Martin Kennedy, a nurse. She had an older brother Earl, and an older sister, Winifred, and later sister Jean was born. Little Virginia loved baby dolls.

Virginia finished high school in Mississippi where she played basketball. Then after the outbreak of WWII, she moved to Arizona with her sister, who married an airman stationed at what was then called Williams Field. Virginia worked as a telephone operator. She met Ernest Perkins, a first lieutenant having served as a bomber pilot in the Pacific. They married in 1946 and bought land in Cochise County, Arizona from descendants of original homesteaders, with family memories of Wyatt Earp (in their version, the Clantons were the “good guys”). As well as being a farmwife, Virginia sold World Book Encyclopedia. Together, they built a farmhouse, planted cotton and had their son Douglas, who has a set of World Book to this day.

The Korean War intervened. Ernest received a letter instructing him to get his affairs in order as he was to be called to active duty. The farm was sold, but Ernest was never called. He worked various jobs in Arizona and leased a gas station in Phoenix. Ernest’s primary interest being agriculture, he went into government service as an Arizona Agricultural Inspector. Virginia and Ernest raised their son in Yuma where Virginia worked as a bank teller and joined Sierra Vista Presbyterian Church with her family. Ernest switched to the California Department of Agriculture and the couple lived for approximately 20 years in Truckee, California at the top of the Sierras. Virginia worked in retail and played nickel slots in Reno.

When Ernest retired, the couple moved back to Mesa, Arizona, where they had family and friends. They spent summers in Lakeside, AZ and attended First Mesa Presbyterian. Ernest died in 2010 and Virginia managed the Mesa House for years, until she entered Brookdale, assisted living, where she had many friends. With the development of knee and hip problems, she moved on to Phoenix Mountain, nursing facility, where she was a favorite with the nurses and aides. She passed comfortably in hospice on December 28. Virginia will be missed and remembered by family and the many friends she has made throughout her long and happy life.

A funeral service for Virginia will be held Friday, January 6, 2023 from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM at Green Acres Mortuary & Cemetery, 401 North Hayden Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85257.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.greenacresmortuary.net for the Perkins family.