Paul Perkins

Paul Gardiner Perkins, 91, died July 8, 2005 in Vancouver, Wash. He was born July 30, 1913 in Watertown, N.Y. He was the oldest of three children born to Dexter Miller and Loretta Gardiner Perkins. Paul was valedictorian at Watertown High School in 1931. He attended Colgate University 1931-1935 and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. During this time he met a girl from Seattle, Eva Marie Ford.

Paul and Eva were married Sept. 8, 1935 in the town of Honeyville, N.Y. He attended Colgate-Rochester Divinity School from 1935-1938 and a daughter was born.

In 1938 the Perkins family moved to Washington state where Paul was ordained and served as a Methodist minister in the Pacific Northwest Conference until his retirement in 1969. During this time four sons were added to the family. Paul and Eva spent 35 years in their ministry together.

During the following 20 years they enjoyed a second career of traveling and participating in many art tours around the Pacific Northwest. Since 1983 Paul and Eva have resided in Startup, Wash., for several years and Vancouver, Wash., the past four years.

Survivors include wife Eva Perkins at home; brother David Perkins of Menlo Park, Calif.; sister Priscilla Perkins Edling of Leesburg, Fla; daughter Lois Butterfield of Vancouver, Wash.; son Douglas Perkins of Spokane; son Dexter Perkins of Startup; son Dwight Perkins of Camano Island; and son Daniel Perkins of Eugene, Ore.; nine grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.

Much of the family has long ties to Coupeville through the late Mary E. Ford, who purchased property in the area in the early 1940s.

A memorial service is planned for 2 p.m. Saturday, July 23, at the United Methodist Church in Coupeville. Internment will be at the Coupeville Cemetery.