Obituaries

Lloyd Wesley Perkins was born on Jan. 2, 1927, in Port Arthur, Texas, where his father, Erwin Otis Perkins, worked as a foreman for Texaco. His mother was Agnes Mary Watkeys, and her mother, Margaret Ann Thomas, had come to this country from Wales in 1882.

Lloyd’s life was shaped by significant moves in his early years. The big move was to Bayonne, NJ, at age five, when his father received a promotion. The neighborhood was a melting pot for a broad range of ethnic groups. By age nine, Lloyd already showed talent in singing, and his mother saw this as a way to get her son a better education. By singing in the boys’ choir of Grace Episcopal School for five years, he paid his way through that prominent prep school.

When he finished high school at age 17, Lloyd enlisted in the Army Air Corps as a cadet. He was ordered to report to Niagara University, under the Army Specialized Training Reserve Training Program, until he was 18. The war in Europe ended between his service in ASTRP and his being ordered to active duty as a cadet in the Air Corps. He received training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and then at Keesler Field in Biloxi, MS, followed by Chanute Field in Illinois. At Chanute Field he was ordered to take part in a special project called Operation Crossroads, which was a series of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean during the summer of 1946.

Lloyd was serving on USS Mt. McKinley at Bikini Atoll, and he recalls hearing U.S. Navy Secretary Forrestal explode with anger as he observed first-hand the endangerment of Navy seamen in the aftermath of the test. Although he was unaware of it at the time, Lloyd also suffered health effects from the test. Despite wearing tinted safety glasses, he suffered radioactive burns on his nose.

Lloyd was discharged from the Air Corps in Nov. 1946, and was able to begin classes at Southern Methodist University in the Spring Term of 1947. There he met Dorothy May Oglesby, a fellow student, and they were married on June 2, 1951 (the Saturday before Dorothy’s graduation on Monday with a BA in Elementary Education). Lloyd had completed his BA (in History and Political Science) a year earlier and finished his first year of Law School at the University of Texas. While Lloyd went on to finish law school (in 1953), Dorothy taught 5th and 6th grade for two years at Rosedale Elementary School in Austin.

In 1954 he joined the Houston firm of Fulbright and Jaworski. The firm sent him to Sherman, representing the defendant in an unusual marine law case. While working on the case, Lloyd was given a blue-ribbon introduction to Sherman by Dorothy’s cousin, Graham Landrum, an English professor at Austin College. He then jumped at the opportunity to join the Sherman firm of Gillespie, Gillespie & Robinson.

Then in 1959 Lloyd was given the opportunity to join the legal staff of Paul Brown, who had been appointed U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas. Thus Lloyd and Dorothy moved to Tyler. He held the position of Asst. U.S. Attorney, in charge of the Civil Division, until 1963, through three different U.S. Attorneys. Lloyd especially enjoyed his service under William Wayne Justice, who was later appointed a U.S. District Judge by President Lyndon Johnson.

In 1963 Lloyd returned to Sherman as an attorney, first in a firm with Paul Brown and David Brown and then in solo practice. In 1967 Dr. John D. Moseley asked Lloyd to accept a position as Austin College’s attorney, working on the Development Staff, with Estate Planning and Bequests. During this time he completed a Master’s degree in Estate Planning and Taxation at SMU’s Dedman Law School.

In 1972 Lloyd was appointed Sherman City Attorney, and a year later the Grayson Co. Commissioners Court gave him a temporary position as Judge of County Court of Law #1. Gov. Dolph Briscoe then appointed Lloyd the first Judge of County Court #2. He was then elected Judge of the 59th Judicial District. Upon his retirement, Supreme Court Justice Phillips appointed Lloyd a Senior District Judge.

In reviewing his career, Judge Perkins commented that he always enjoyed public service more than corporate practice. He summed it up as follows: “In all of my work I saw the hand of Providence and I felt like the biblical prophet who prayed, ‘Lord, I thank Thee for making my life like a triumphal pageant.’”

Judge Perkins was deeply committed to equality for all and human rights. He appointed the first African American bailiff, Vernon Holland, and the first female bailiff, Toya McEwen, to serve in Grayson County Courts.

Lloyd and Dorothy had three sons: David Wesley was born in Port Arthur in 1954. John Howard arrived in 1956 when the Perkins were living in Houston. Daniel Jackson was born in Sherman in 1958. Lloyd is survived by his wife, Dorothy; 3 sons: David Perkins and husband George Constant of New York, New York, John Perkins Napa, California, and Daniel Perkins and wife Donna of Greenville, TX; 5 grandchildren: Wesley Perkins, Jesse Perkins, Kristen Glover, Katie Clark, and Sarah Perkins; great grandchild, Adeline Glover and many nieces, nephews, and a host of friends.

A funeral service will be held on Saturday, May 11, 2019 at Grace United Methodist Church in Sherman, where he and Dorothy were founding members, at 10:00 AM. Dr. Frank Drenner of Grace and Rev. John Fleming of First United Methodist Church in Gainesville will officiate. Interment will follow the service at Friendship Cemetery in Sherman. Pallbearers for Judge Perkins will be Dr. John White, Tom McKee, Judge Horace Groff, Ralph Monroe, Wesley Perkins, and Jesse Perkins. Honorary pallbearers will be Dr. J. Michael Benson, Dwight Oglesby, Robert Landrum and the Grayson County Bar Association. The family will greet friends on Friday, May 10, from 6:00 until 8:00 PM at Dannel Funeral Home.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Meals on Wheels, MOWOT.org, or Grace United Methodist Church Building Fund.