Bridge City icon, Beverly Perry, moving to Georgia

"I love Bridge City," said Beverly Perry. "I'll be crying when I cross that Texas line into Louisiana." She'll be leaving in about a month or so, after she sells her house and has an estate sale.

"Bridge City is home," she said. She doesn't really want to leave but at age 88, her health has taken a turn and she should not be living alone. None of her family lives here, so she is going to live with her son in Georgia. She's looking forward to playing with her great-grandchildren.

Last week the St. Henry's choir had a farewell celebration at Romano's Italian Restaurant on Texas Avenue.

"We had a great time," she said. Perry has been part of the choir for 11-12 years. "It's just such a wonderful group and I really enjoyed it. I'm really gonna miss that."

They presented her with a humongous chocolate cake from Rao's. There was so much cake that she brought the rest of it to Bridge City Bank, where she has worked for the last nine years, for the employees to share.

The bank is throwing a farewell reception for her 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Jan. 30, where friends can stop in and visit with her to say goodbye and have cake. Her last day at the bank will be Feb. 14.

Perry started out in Port Acres, living with her maternal grandparents who adopted her and her older sister when Perry was 2 years old.

"My grandparents were from Louisiana. They came to Texas on the barge." Perry said her grandmother didn't speak any English, so Perry spoke French to her grandmother and English to her grandfather. Being bilingual was just natural to her back then.

In 1945, when Perry was 9 years old, they moved to Bridge City.

"They felt that Port Acres was getting too crowded, so they moved to Bridge City," she said. They bought a house on Texas Avenue. It was in the summer. Houses didn't have air conditioning back then, so all the windows were open and you could hear everything outside. Just a few days after settling in, she said they heard cars honking, hollering and a major commotion outside, so they went outside to see what was going on.

"People had parked their cars askew all over. You couldn't go through. They were on the road, on the side of the road and the ditch. They were laughing and dancing in the street," she said. "They had just heard on the car radio that World War II had ended."

A couple of things she remembered about the war was a lady that had a table set up in Kresge's store in Port Arthur. She mended the runs in women's hosiery, because new stockings were not available because of the war.

"The women wore the patches with pride because it was helping the war effort."

She also spoke about the shortage of tires being so severe, people eventually just took the tires off when they wore out and ran the cars on the wheels. She said they painted the wheels red.

"We all had victory gardens," she said.

She also talked about other memories of Bridge City when she was a kid. Her grandfather bought her a horse named Ol' Bill. They owned 19 acres, so there was plenty of room for her to ride.

She would get a quarter to go to the movies on Saturdays.

"We'd walk from my house to the to the movie theater," said Perry. They tore the building down years ago to make way for Market Basket. She said it was nine cents to get into the movie, a nickel for popcorn, a nickel for a coke and a nickel for a Hershey bar. A penny was left over.

Her grandfather would hitch Ol' Bill to a wagon and fill it with hay. All the neighbor kids would pile in and go caroling in Bridge City during Christmas.

"It was a good life."

After school, Perry attended Port Arthur Business School and went to work for an insurance company, then went to work for DuPont in the shipping department.

She got married and moved to Louisiana. They lived about 50 miles south of New Orleans and she felt isolated. After she had her first child, she decided to come back to Texas.

"I didn't want to raise my kids down there. Texas is home for me," said Perry. "I've enjoyed being here so much." She raised a son, Nathan, and a daughter, Toni. She later divorced and never remarried.

Perry worked at many locations in Bridge City including Luv Lingerie, Central Office Supply and of course Bridge City Bank.

She was very involved in the Chamber of Commerce and was an ambassador for years. She has been a member of the Bridge City Council and just resigned her position on the planning and zoning committee last week.

"I love doing that kind of work," she said. "It's just fulfilling to know that you're helping your city. I've enjoyed so much the people that that I've worked with in the chamber."

"I've always wanted to work. I'm not one to sit around and watch soap operas," said Perry.

She has beaten cancer three times over the years and has always had a positive attitude.

Her goal was to work until 90, but God said "No, not this time."

"It's been a real good life. I have no regret. Yes, there's bad and good. I believe in God and I think that he has a plan for us. It's my time now to go visit and learn to love on my great grandkids in in Georgia.

Her 12-year-old roommate, Senior Pablo, will be going with her. She got him from the Humane Society of Southeast Texas.

"He's been such a lot of solace to me. A friendship that loved me no matter what I looked like or what I did," she said.

She will be leaving behind three friends that have been like sisters to her for over 20 years, Lou Rayburn, Judy LeBlanc and Shirley Vicknair. She has traveled the world with them.

"We've been to New York City. We've been to the Holy Land. We've been to Europe. All of us together. You name it, we've done all of that over the years." She said now they're old. The youngest just turned 80 a few days ago.

"I love this town. It's gonna hurt me to leave It, but then like I said, when I look forward, I see grandkids, great-grandkids, and great-great-grandkids."

"Me and my dog are gonna pack a suitcase and we're gonna take off."

Bridge City is going to miss you, Beverly Perry. Bon Voyage.

Things you probably didn't know about Beverly Perry:

1.Beverly Street in Bridge City is named after her. Her grandfather built the street, then deeded it to the city.

2. She graduated from Stark High School in Orange. Bridge City school only went from first to eighth grades. Students were bused to Orange for High School.

3. She skipped 11th grade. After she finished the 10th grade, she had enough credits to skip 11th grade and went straight to 12th, graduating in 1954, a year ahead of the rest of her class.

4. Her son Nathan was the "Best Shooter" in the United States. As a competition shooter and a member of the National Rifle Association at the age of 12, he became the top competitor in the nation.