Shirley A. Perry

Shirley Arlien (née Fisher) Perry of Quogue died on Monday, January 19. She was 91.

Mrs. Perry was born in Bayview in Southold Town on April 6, 1917, to Henry Wells Fisher and Alice (nee Smith) Fisher. A 1934 graduate of Southold public schools, she attended the Southold Academy for business classes and then went to New York City for linotype school. She worked as a linotype operator at a newspaper in Rimersburg, Pennsylvania, and then at The Traveler Watchman in Southold until her marriage.

While conditions thwarted most papers from publishing the week of the 1938 hurricane, she always took satisfaction in having set type for The Traveler Watchman edition published two days after the hurricane, made possible by using an old hand-operated printing press.

She married Arthur M. Perry of Quogue on September 10, 1939, and the couple enjoyed 37 years of marriage before Mr. Perry’s death on October 25, 1976.

Mrs. Perry worked as a volunteer for the Southold Town Historian, Antonia Booth, and at the Suffolk County Historical Society, of which she was a life member. She was a member and officer of the Quogue Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary and worked on the fire department’s fund-raising committee. She was also the secretary of the Quogue Cemetery Association for many years.

She taught Sunday school and participated in various women’s organizations over the years, including an active membership at the Westhampton Presbyterian Church. She was also a member of the Veritas Rebekah Lodge 167, having transferred her membership there upon the closing of the Southold lodge, which she had joined more than 70 years ago.

According to loved ones, she will be remembered for her love of family, genealogy, local history and various needle crafts.

She is survived by three daughters, Cynthia Ann, Phyllis Elizabeth Styrzo and Diane Flora; a brother, Herbert A. Fisher of Mattituck; a granddaughter, Inda Maria (née Styrzo) Lawson and her husband Robert; a great-grandson, Ricco Paraz Johnson Jr.; five sisters-in-law; a brother-in-law; 15 nieces and nephews; and many grandnieces and grandnephews.

In addition to her husband, Arthur M. Perry, she was predeceased by a son, Henry; a daughter, Cynthia; two brothers, George H. and Ellsworth H. Fisher; and a sister, Flora Cantrell.

A wake was held on January 23 at the Follett and Werner Funeral Home in Westhampton Beach. A funeral service, officiated by Reverend Peter A. Sulyok, was held at the Westhampton Presbyterian Church on January 24. Interment followed at Quogue Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations to the Westhampton Presbyterian Church, 90 Meeting House Road, Westhampton Beach, NY 11978, the Suffolk County Historical Society, 300 West Main Street, Riverhead, NY, 11901 or a charity of choice would be appreciated by the family.