Today we celebrate the life of Betty Perry who left us on September 24, 2024. To honor her memory, I am repeating a column I wrote about Betty and Win Perry in 2018 covering the early years of their 66-year marriage. The loss of Betty to our community and to her husband is beyond words. Here are a few humble words about their courtship and a partnership that is a shining model for us all.
The Perrys in 1958 at their wedding and in 2022 receiving the Historical Society of the Nyacks Lifetime Achievement Award.
Win & Betty Perry: A Life Partnership
England brought Win and Betty Perry together for the first time. They went to a student co-op mixer in September of 1957 at the University of California, Berkeley. Win had spent the summer cycling in England, Scotland, and Wales. Betty’s father taught Air Force dependents in England. A friend of Betty’s noticed the common subject and introduced them. The next day they went for a walk… and for 66 years they were together so often in Nyack that a friend called them off track betting’s favorite couple: Bet and Win.
Win & Betty at Berkeley
Winston Churchill Perry, Win’s father, was named after a well-known American author of the time (and not the Prime Minister of England) who spent summers in Nyack and played checkers at Win’s grandfather’s store in Upper Nyack. Win, meanwhile, graduated from Yale and, an ROTC student, he entered the Navy upon graduation. Navy boats were a lot different than the Lightning sailboats he loved to captain growing up in Nyack. The first day on board he injured his knee on a ladder, and he was out of the service for good. He had always loved architecture, and he decided to start over and earn a second degree. Having never been west, he applied to Berkeley, was accepted, and ventured west.
Betty and Win Perry in 1958. Photo from the Perry family archives.
Betty Pinneo (an Americanization of the French family, Pineau) was born in Oklahoma but grew up in the Bay area of California. Her family moved to San Francisco to take advantage of shipbuilding jobs during WWII. She remembers roller skating down the steep Bay area hills, catching herself on telephone poles at the bottom. Betty spent her school years in Berkeley, near the UC campus where she’d wind up attending college.
The courtship between Win and Betty was quick. After meeting, they spent most of their time together, including dinners with Betty’s mother who had moved to El Sobrante north of Berkeley, near the San Rafael Bridge. In December of the same year, Win proposed. He didn’t have a ring, so he tied a red ribbon around her ring finger.
A Marriage, a New York Honeymoon, & a Summer in Nyack
The Perrys married on June 14, 1958 in Berkeley. Win’s parents gave them a choice of wedding presents: Either they would come to the wedding in California or the kids could have a car. Ever practical, they chose the car. Of course, the car was in Nyack. They flew east, honeymooned in a little blue trailer in Montauk, and then lived with Win’s great-uncle Charlie at 319 N. Broadway in Upper Nyack. Little did they know then, it would become their house for over 60 years.
Betty and Win were a team. They worked together for their room and board during the summer of 1958 by painting great-uncle Charlie’s house. They also built a patio shelter for a pool at the house just south of the elementary school. It wasn’t all work, however. They took a sailing trip up the Hudson River, and it took them two days to reach West Point. It was extremely hot and still on the river. Betty wasn’t thrilled about sailing, even more so on the return trip when a big storm drove them downriver so quickly that they arrived in Nyack in two hours.
The Perrys Return to Berkeley
The newlyweds drove back to Berkley via Florida, New Orleans, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Yellowstone National Park. All this in a week, camping as they went, and replacing the universal joint in the car that burnt out climbing Pike’s Peak. They rented an apartment in Berkeley near campus. Soon, they found a new cottage garden apartment that allowed children. Susie, their first child, was born the day after Betty’s last final of the year.
Graduation brought big decisions. Where to live? They both loved Berkeley. It was home for Betty. Win loved the intellectual life in Berkeley, where he listened to talks by Frank Lloyd Wright and Buckminster Fuller. “He loved the geodesic domes,” said Betty. Berkeley was quiet and diverse, with many natural attractions. But Berkeley was already crowded with architects, and Win had roots in Nyack–he was the seventh-generation Perry in Nyack, after all. So, they decided to head back east.
The Perrys Make Nyack Their Home
For Betty, Nyack was a little small but could also feel like a little piece of Berkeley. Nyack was on a hillside, the Hudson River replaced the San Francisco Bay, and instead of water sunsets, they watched water sunrises. From the very beginning, Nyack history thrilled her. She spoke with reverence of the house that Edward Hopper used as a model for his painting, Seven A.M., which can be seen from their front porch. Nyack was also diverse and had a liberal element common to Berkeley. “If the problems of the world are ever going to be solved, the solution will start in Nyack,” Win said.
Friendships developed quickly, along with a growing family. They enjoyed the company of more people than they can count–people like the Wexlers and Theriens across the street, and the Haders, children’s book authors and illustrators in Grandview and former Bay Area Californians.
A Life of Community Service
Betty didn’t work outside the home until their four children were all in school, though she helped to create a free nursery school and then the Nyack HeadStart program, as well as being a strong friend of the Nyack Library. After working 10 years in Nyack Schools, she started a 20-year career as a school librarian in Tuckahoe.
Win commuted to the city for two years, carpooling to the Tarrytown train station. When Win started working in Nyack, he bicycled to work. The Perrys quickly became a familiar part of the Nyack scene. Their contributions to the community are almost too numerous to mention. They were instrumental in the founding of the Historical Society of the Nyacks, in the renovation of the Edward Hopper House, the founding of Head Start in Nyack, the rehabilitation of the John Green house, and so much more.
The Perry Legacy
In 2018, asked about the keys to longevity in marriage, they mentioned good luck, wonderful children, being patient with each other during disagreements, and minimizing financial worries by living within one’s means.
We will remember seeing Win in a bucket hat working in his front yard, or Betty volunteering in the Nyack Library Local History Room. More likely than not, we found them together. Their love of Nyack’s interesting people and history will remain with us forever.
Mike Hays lived in the Nyacks for 38-years. He worked for McGraw-Hill Education in New York City for many years. Hays serves as President of the Historical Society of the Nyacks, and Vice-President of the Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center. Married to Bernie Richey, he enjoys cycling and winters in Florida. You can follow him on Instagram as UpperNyackMike.
Editor’s note: This article is sponsored by Sun River Health. Sun River Health is a network of 43 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) providing primary, dental, pediatric, OB-GYN, and behavioral health care to over 245,000 patients annually.
