August 5, 1924 – January 13, 1989

In his own words, Perry was, “As close to a Colorado native as you will find.”  Though living in Loveland, Lucille went home to Yankton, South Dakota for the birth of her third child.  They came back to the Rocky Mountain state as quickly as they could.  For the rest of his life, Perry gave much of his soul to the state he never stopped loving.

After his stint in the Navy during World War II, Perry returned to Boulder and the University of Colorado.  While there, he met and married Sandy Tecklin from Brooklyn, NY.  Having enamored of the literary world, Perry took his new wife and thirteen month-old son, to Paris where he studied at the Sorbonne.  Two and a half years later, they returned to settle in Denver.

In short time, he was following in his mother’s journalistic footsteps.  He was a journeyman reporter for the International News Service (INS, which later merged with UPI) and editor of publications for the National Farmers Union.

Following the disastrous flood of the South Platte in 1965, Perry became immersed in community projects and politics.  He was appointed by Mayor Tom Currigan, to be executive director of the newly-formed South Platte Area Redevelopment Commission (SPARC).  With that as his springboard, he went on to be a member of the first board of directors for RTD, executive head of the Colorado Centennial/ Bicentennial Commission and was involved with many other organizations dedicated to the preservation and beautification of the Denver area.  His accomplishments weren’t restricted to Denver.  He was press secretary for Roy Romer’s 1966 senate campaign. In 1971, he compiled an inventory of over 1500 historic sites in Colorado for the State Historical Society.

Perry conveyed his love of the state and its glorious past into several internationally renowned publications.  He covered the state with his two young sons in the family station wagon ferreting out such details that his works became bibles for the Ghost Town Club of Colorado, several Jeep clubs and other explorer organizations.  He wrote and published many articles for local newspapers and magazines, and taught at Metropolitan State College.  One of his favorite membership activities was Menu Chairman for the Friends of Alferd E. Packer (a rogue group of journalists, environmentalists and anti-development types), under which title he penned many letters to the editor.

Perry passed away in January of 1989.  His wife, partner in crime and cartographer, Sandy, passed away in 2003.  They are survived by two sons, Dan and Pete, and a daughter, Eve.  Another daughter, Medley Ann, died tragically in 1978.  There are eight grand-children and fifteen great-grandchildren to carry on the family’s love of Colorado.

 

Books

Guide to Colorado Ghost Towns and Mining Camps, 1959/1969, (Swallow Press/Ohio University Press)

Treasure Tales to the Rockies, 1961/1969 (Swallow Press/Ohio University Press)

The Fourteeners, co-authored with Phillip Schmuck (1970 , out of print)

Ghosts of the Colorado Plains, 1986 (Swallow Press/Ohio University Press)