My Personal Remembrances of my Grandfather, Henry Morgan Perry
By David Ririe

My earliest recollection of Grandpa Perry was at the age of four years. He came to visit me in the L.D.S. Hospital in Idaho Falls where I was sick with pneumonia. He was dressed in a dark suit, he had a large moustache and appeared to me, a little boy, to be very tall. Actually I believed he was of average size. He told me about his mission in California. On three different occasions he answered the call to serve as a missionary. To me he described his train ride to California, complete with gestures, sounds, and an account of the train traveling through a mountain via a dark tunnel. This visit told me a lot about him. He was kind and dedicated to his family and he was a wonderful speaker.

I recall going to the Perry home and finding a broken post in the barn yard that he planned to dig out. Foolishly I volunteered to dig it out. I was about six years old at the time. The ground was dry and hard and the shovel in my small hands was not very effective. After awhile I had to abandon the task, being tired, and of no inclination to complete the job. Later I overheard him telling Grandma how hard I had worked in a complimentary way. He worked hard and he admired anyone who worked hard. His praise of my effort was a joy to me.

I recall that one side of the barn was made of concrete and there were concrete walks around the house which by now was a large comfortable home with many rooms and modern conveniences. Mother explained to me that Grandpa liked to work in concrete and that explained the large wall and the sidewalks.

In the house there was a fascinating library that I admired greatly. Few homes in the area at that time had many books. The Perry home was one where learning and culture were very important.

As improvements came along Grandpa and Grandma seemed to be among the first to install things like electricity, plumbing, telephones and radio. Indeed He was a progressive man.

Mother told me that Grandpa Perry didn't believe in insurance, but he believed that families and individuals should take care of themselves in emergencies.

Aunt Velda laughingly told of one day when Grandpa and Grandma Perry went to Rigby to shop and carry on their businesses. Grandfather finished and drove home in his buggy. Only upon arriving home did he realize that he had left Grandmother in town. Apparently he was like some of his descendants a dreamer whose mind focused or concentrated on things of the moment to the exclusion of anything else.

He died in the hospital in Idaho Falls, surrounded by his loving family on 26 January 1930 after a short illness.

When George W. Summers of the Rigby Stake High Council interviewed me prior to my ordination to the Melchizedek Priesthood he said, "You have a lot to live up to. No one ever had greater grandfathers than you did."

Brother Summer's assessment of Henry M. Perry was true. He was a great man!

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