Alton Perry's legacy of generosity

NEWS & FOOTNOTES

WILLIAMSTOWN - Last week, after watching a clip from a podcast interview of the late Matthew Perry, I thought of his grandfather.

Alton L. Perry, who died in 2003 at age 96, was a well-known citizen of Williamstown, being the founder and long-term proprietor of a prosperous insurance and real estate business on Spring Street. It was hard to miss him: Tall and slender, he was always dressed to the nines, right down to his shoes. His neatly barbered white hair and sculpture-worthy facial features bespoke - accurately- wisdom, kindness and good humor. Possessed of the ability to smile with his eyes as well as his mouth, he was what one of my female acquaintances described as "a handsome devil." My late mother had him pegged as a "real gent."

In a 1995 interview with a reporter for The North Adams Transcript, Matthew Perry (whose father was Al Perry's son, John) declared that one of the pleasures of his annual visit to his grandfather in Williamstown was "to see the best-looking Perry at least once a year." "Al" was a widower - his wife, the former Maria Bennett, died in 1970 after 39 years of marriage - and maintained an active social life. He frequently ate lunch and/ or dinner at the Howard Johnson's restaurant on Route 2, sometimes with one or both of its owners, his close friends Frank and Ernest Brundage, and made the rounds of other eateries. An avid golfer and skier, he also was a regular patron of the Williamstown Theatre Festival; he sometimes squired a female companion.

I had only a nodding acquaintance with Al throughout my youth, so I was surprised when he telephoned me early one summer morning in 2001.

He had an idea - which he acknowledged as being somewhat farfetched- to purchase a large house in Williamstown and convert it into an adult "rest home." Neither financial means nor health status was to figure significantly in the process of admission to the facility, which Al envisioned as a "civilized" bastion of fine dining and regular entertainment in the form of concerts, dances and movies. Health care providers would be welcome as residents or guests and would be compensated on an individual, case-by-case basis. "Financial aid" for any or all costs would be available, he declared.

Al wanted to know what I thought of the chances of publicizing the proposal (I was then a full-time reporter for this newspaper), thus demonstrating a measure of support that might influence regulatory authorities in favor of it. I recommended that said authorities be sounded out before anything hit the papers but that the chances of success were, in my estimation, low.

"Still, you wouldn't mind living there, would you?" he said.

"Not for a minute," I replied honestly. "It sounds great."

Our conversation took other turns, and by the time it ended an hour or so later, I'd learned a lot about Al Perry.

An anonymous benefactor had helped pay the Drury High School student's way through a year of private boarding school and four years at Wesleyan University, from which he graduated. This inspired him to pursue a personal policy of doing good - quietly. He told me that he had taken much pleasure and satisfaction from anonymously underwriting educational expenses for disadvantaged young people and had often been thrilled to hear of their later successes.

Al's long-ago recollections resonated recently when I read his grandson's statement of his wishes in the event of his death.

"I would like to be remembered as somebody who lived well, loved well, was a seeker," Matthew Perry said during a 2022 interview about his memoir. "And his paramount thing is that he wants to help people. That's what I want."

His grandfather would have been pleased and proud to see that he got his wish.

OVERHEARD AT A REUNION

Recently returned from a COVID-delayed 50th high school reunion, a reader remarked on the popularity of health-related topics of discussion. At one point, apparently approaching her capacity for tales from Sick Bay, a classmate likened the event to an "organ recital."

D.R."Dusty" Bahlman may be reached at [email protected] or 413-441-4278.