Nellie Catherine Perry

Funeral services will be 1:00 p.m., Thursday, June 2 in Hobart for long-time Kiowa County resident Nellie Perry, a writer, educator, attorney and activist. She died May 28 in Prairie Village, Kansas.

Services will be under the direction of Ray and Martha's Funeral Home and will be at the First United Methodist Church in Hobart.

Nellie Catherine Pfenning Perry was born April 16, 1929 in Hobart to Sam and Eddie Parr Pfenning. She grew up east of Hobart and attended the one-room Martin school through eighth grade.

She graduated from Hobart High School in 1946 and attended Oklahoma College for Women in Chickasha in 1946-47. She earned a bachelor's degree in home economics from Oklahoma A&M in 1950. She later did graduate work at Northeastern University in Boston.

On Aug. 3, 1947 in Hobart, she married Johnny Max Perry. They attended Oklahoma A&M College together and raised four children.

Nellie was a reporter for the Hobart Democrat-Chief and a junior high home economics, English and science teacher in Midwest City (1959-63) and Hobart (1964-66.) She became a writer who said she would someday "paper my office walls with rejection slips."

She and Johnny lived in a house on Iris Avenue on the western edge of Hobart. All were welcome.

At age 50, she decided to go to law school at the University of Oklahoma. She graduated near the top of her class in 1982 and joined Johnny in the offices of Perry, Gentry, Perry and Marsh in Hobart and Sentinel. She retired in 2007.

She was a highly acclaimed bankruptcy attorney and was chosen as a trustee on the Oklahoma Bar Foundation. She also served on the Oklahoma Board of Bar Examiners and helped organize Women's Law Day at OU. She was a member of the bar associations of Kiowa County and the State of Oklahoma.

She loved sailing and writing. She boasted she had taught 150 people how to sail. She and Johnny were yellow dog Democrats and befriended political officials - from both parties - throughout the state.

In September 2008, she was chosen by the Journal Record as one of Oklahoma's Fifty Women Making a Difference. In remarks at the ceremony, she said "I was not the woman my children wrote about but that's the woman I'd like to be."

She provided legal services pro bono for Girl Scouts of America, the Youth Commission in Hobart and the Great Plains Youth and Family Services.

She received the Mary Emma Wilson Award for outstanding work in the prevention of child abuse in Oklahoma.

In Hobart, she was active in many civic endeavors, including Great Plains Youth and Family Services, Shortgrass Playhouse, the Kiowa County Historical Society, the Hobart Public Library, the Toastmistress Club, Girl Scouts, Parent-Teacher Association and the Democratic Party.

She sold that house on Iris Avenue and moved in her later years to Stillwater, then to Prairie Village, Kansas.

She is survived by her children, Nicki and husband Bill Hancock, Prairie Village, Kansas; Catherine Perry and husband Sedg Mead, St. Louis, Missouri; Allison Madrid and husband Javier of Puebla, Mexico; and Jim Perry and wife Diana of Perkins.

She is also survived by 12 grandchildren, Nate Hancock and wife Kristin of Overland Park, Kansas; Javier Madrid of Chicago; Arturo Madrid of Barcelona, Spain; Jo Madrid, Ana Madrid, Judith Madrid and Allison Teresa Madrid of Puebla, Mexico; Jami Flint and husband Michael of Claremore; Chris Perry and wife Beth of Dallas; Nellie Perry Mead of Overland Park, Kansas; Margie Perry Mead of Big Pine Key, Florida; and Karen Hancock of Stillwater;

Also, six great-grandchildren, Andrea Bailey Hancock of Stillwater; William and Jack Hancock of Overland Park, Kansas; Cohen and Sullivan Flint of Claremore; and Nico Madrid of Puebla, Mexico;

Also her nephew and nieces, Perry Hanner and wife Leann of Bella Vista, Arkansas; Paula Wilson and husband Donnie, Hobart; Barbara Pfenning of Chickasha; John Pfenning and wife Joyce of Hobart; Kyle Pfenning and wife Shonda of Oklahoma City;

Also her sister-in-law, Marian Pfenning of Hobart; former sister-in-law Ellen Johnson of Weatherford and countless other relatives and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; two brothers, Glenn and Sam Allen Pfenning; her sisters-in-law, Gerry Schroeder and Juanita Pfenning; a niece, Nita Pfenning, and her oldest grandchild, Will Hancock.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial contributions be made to Great Plains Youth and Family Services, the Hobart Public Library, the Kiowa County Historical Society or your favorite charity.