John Perkins, Retired Principal, Dies at 70

Funeral services for John Cody Perkins, 70, principal for 37 years at Henderson Elementary School, will be at 3 p.m. Tuesday at the Settegast-Kopf Chapel, 4136 Broadway. The Rev. Harry Holmes will officiate. Graveside services will be at Forest Park Lawndale.

Perkins, of 3619 S. MacGregor Way was stricken Sunday with a heart attack at his summer home. "Perk-Inn" at Bacliff. He died at Memorial Baptist Hospital Southeast.

The much-honored principal, born in Lufkin, attended Lufkin High School and Sam Houston State College. After a hitch in the Navy in World War I, he started teaching at Lufkin High.

In 1923 he became superintendent of the Crosby School District. Two years later he started teaching in the Houston district, meanwhile earning his master's degree from the University of Texas.

When the James Henderson School was under construction in 1929, Perkins was named principal. He retired this year.

During that time he was honored with a life membership in the Texas Congress of Parents and Teachers Association, an oil portrait of himself by Harry Wortham, five consecutive school safety awards from the National Safety Council and the Veteran's Scout Award in recognition of 45 years of service to Boy Scouting.

Meanwhile, Perkins was accumulating a fortune buying and developing South Texas real estate.

Perkins was a member of the Sons of the Republic of Texas, Phi Delta Kappa education fraternity, the Arabia Temple Drum and Bugle Corps, several Masonic organizations and Harrisburg Post 472, American Legion. He was past president of the Harrisburg Rotary Club.

He leaves his wife, Millie; two daughters, Mrs. W. R. Utter of Houston and Mrs. M. E. Weber of Alamogordo, New Mexico, two sisters, Mrs. Elizabeth Rice of Waco and Mrs. Mae Johnston of Houston; a brother, Coy Perkins of Huntsville, and nine grandchildren.

• The Houston Chronicle, Monday, August 28, 1967

Father: Giles C. Perkins

Mother: Annie Dees

Married

Principal @ Elementary School

WWI Veteran