Dorothy Joanne Peters Perry

Dorothy “Pete” Perry, age 90, died on Tuesday, February 20, 2018 surrounded by her loving family.

Dorothy Joanne Peters Perry was born in Stoneboro, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Deu Weine and Gertrude Peters and the older sister of Kathleen Peters. She graduated from Stoneboro High School in 1946 and Temple University School of Dental Hygiene in 1948. Upon graduation from Temple, she joined the U.S. Public Health Service and travelled through New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware grade schools as part of the U.S. Health Services original experiment of applying sodium fluoride to the teeth of children seven to ten years of age. She later worked in private practice for several dentists in Wilmington, Delaware. She was proud to have all of her own original teeth at age 90!

Dorothy married A. Lee Perry in 1950 and lived in the Wilmington, Delaware area for over seventy years. Together they raised three children and joyfully embraced three grandchildren.

Dorothy enjoyed spending time with her family, especially her grandchildren; quiet evenings on their boat on the Chesapeake Bay and days on the beach in Rehoboth, Delaware and the Florida Keys. She loved many adventurous travels around the world, was a superb cook, loved entertaining for family and friends, and was quick to help anyone in need. She was both a Cub Scout and a Girl Scout leader and enjoyed chaperoning camping trips with the scouts to Grove Point camp on the Chesapeake.

She is survived by her husband of 68 years, her son, Alan Lee Perry and his wife, Suzanne, who reside in Greenville, DE; her son, Duane Perry of Newark, DE; her daughter, Sandra Lee Polett and husband Douglas of Tustin, CA; and her beloved grandchildren: Christopher Perry of Manayunk, PA, Morgan Perry of Boston, MA and Gabrielle Polett of Tustin, CA; her sister Kathleen and her husband, Robert Ohle of Flat Rock, NC., and their children and grandchildren.