Amy Perkins. June 7. 2018

Copyright © 2018                               John F. Oyler

June 7, 2018

Amy Perkins

The Bridgeville area recently lost one its most distinguished citizens with the passing of centenarian Amy Perkins. Aimee Purnell was born on May 20, 1915, the daughter of Leroy and Viola Purnell. Before she was old enough to know her father, World War I took him to France, where he died. We believe he was the first African-American from the Bridgeville area to lose his life in the service of his country.

Years later the government arranged for mothers and widows of servicemen buried in France to visit the cemeteries in which their loved ones were buried. Over six thousand women participated in this pilgrimage. Unfortunately in those days of Jim Crow segregation, African-American families were not included. Fortunately, Mrs. Purnell’s employer, Dr. Fife, interceded and made it possible for her to make the trip separately.

The Bridgeville Area Historical Society has a poignant photograph of Viola Purnell at her husband’s grave in France, an appropriate symbol of the horror of war and its aftereffects on its survivors. It is ironic that we are writing this on Memorial Day Weekend.

Despite being orphaned as a small child and reaching maturity at the height of the Depression, Aimee Purnell prospered as a survivor. She is recorded as a graduate of the Class of 1934 of Bridgeville High School. Among other members of the class were John Abraham, Arthur Colussy, John Deklewa, Jane Patton, and Arthur Rittenhouse. Aimee was obviously BHS’ oldest living alumnus. One wonders who has inherited that distinction?

At some point Aimee morphed into Amy. She became a licensed practical nurse and spent many productive years at Kane Hospital serving the elderly and indigent. She married Morris Perkins and began a family that eventually included eleven great-grandchildren.

The First Baptist Church of Bridgeville and Amy Perkins are practically synonymous; she served as Deaconess and as the moral conscience of the congregation. In later years her interests included Meals on Wheels and the Bridgeville Food Bank. Very few people can match her service to her community. It is trite to say she will be missed, but that statement has seldom been more appropriate.

One of best things about writing this column is the feedback we get from readers. Georgia Abraham emailed us in response to the column dealing with the Bridgeville High School classes of 1950 and 1951. We had reported the election of Louise Tonarelli as May Queen in 1950.

Georgia reported “The mention of Louise Tonarelli as May Queen brought back a favorite memory.  Her father was on strike at the time she was selected as May Queen, and the Baldwin St neighborhood got together and collected money so that she could purchase her new dress to wear to the coronation.  One of the many pluses of growing up in Bridgeville at the time.”

That is indeed a wonderful memory and a wonderful story; our thanks to Georgia. On the same general subject, we owe Arlene Toney an apology. She was the Maid of Honor for the May Dance in 1951; we inadvertently referred to her as Audrey.

Cheryl Williams, a volunteer docent at the Oliver Miller Homestead, asked us what route a colonial packhorse train from Bridgeville would follow to go east to Bedford. We sent her information on Colonel Noble’s Trace. Hearing from her reminded me of my one-person campaign to increase cooperation between neighboring organizations interested in local history – I must visit the Miller Homestead some Sunday soon.

The recent renewal of a very old friendship with Don Colton continues to generate lots of new information as well as old memories. His response to the column on “Academic Regalia” was the information that he still proudly wears his father’s hood, which the first Dr. Colton presented to him in 1964, when Don earned his Ph. D.

Dr. Horace Colton was justly proud of his doctorate, a Ph. D. in Education Administration from the University of Pittsburgh; most Education doctorates today are D. Ed. I have been around the academic world long enough to appreciate the distinction. I am touched by the thought of his original Pitt hood being worn by Don at distinguished academic affairs all over the Mid-West all these years.

For those of you keeping score, I must report a disappointment. I submitted three columns to the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania Golden Quill Awards competition. I was pleased to learn I was a finalist, then shattered when I was informed I had not won. This competition was for columnists in the Weekly Papers with circulation below 45,000; guess I need a category of less than fifty readers.

Despite my disappointment, I still receive a lot of satisfaction from putting something together each week, especially when it involves local history. I am reminded of the slogan of the Cameron County Press Independent newspaper, which was published by my cousin Jim Klees – “The only paper in the world that gives a damn about Cameron County”. I will strive to continue to produce the only column that gives a damn about the Bridgeville area.