SCARBOROUGH –
Nancy S. Perry, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, school counseling advocate, and avid traveler died peacefully on August 7, 2021 at Gosnell Memorial Hospice House in Scarborough.

She was born in Houston on Dec. 11, 1934, the youngest of six children, to Robert E. Sullivan and Beatrice J. Sullivan. Nancy graduated from Lamar High School, and Rice University (then The Rice Institute, class of 1956), both in Houston. She married her college sweetheart, Phil Malcolm Perry on Dec. 21, 1955. Together they raised their four children in Cumberland.

An educator and advocate at heart, Nancy impacted lives at the local, state, and national levels. Nancy served as President of the Junior League of Portland, Maine, before returning to school to earn a Master of Science in Education from the University of Southern Maine in 1975. She was a guidance counselor at Greely Junior High School and Greely High School, in Cumberland until 1987. She served as the State of Maine Guidance Consultant from 1987-1993, and was elected in 1989 to serve as President-Elect 1990-91, then President of American School Counselor Association (ASCA) 1991-92. During the Clinton administration, she served as Special Consultant for National Office of Information Coordinating Committee (NOICC), a federal department to manage a student portfolio she designed called Get A Life. Nancy was appointed interim then Executive Director of ASCA from 1995-2000, helping ASCA become a separate organization from the American Counselors Association.

After retiring from ASCA in 2000, Nancy continued her passion for travel with her husband Phil, visiting a total of 86 countries during their 65 years of marriage, including the most recent trip in 2019 to Ecuador and the Galapagos. These travels included five trips to China and four to Russia as leader of counselors for “Eisenhower’s Citizen’s Ambassadors.”

Nancy is also the author of several children’s books including “Don’t Call Me Baby” and “Duffy the Lonely Dragon”, which was a finalist for the prestigious Royal Palm Literary Award.

When not traveling or writing, Nancy and Phil split their time between Frye Island, on Sebago Lake in Maine, and The Villages in Florida, where she enjoyed playing golf, pickleball, and bridge, as well as swimming and gardening.

Nancy was truly a gracious and caring woman, loved far and wide! She loved, and was loved deeply by her husband and family. Nancy also made friends wherever she went.

She is survived by her husband of 65 years, Phil M. Perry; her four children, Phil Jr., Pamela, Patrick, and Paula; and eight grandchildren, McAlister, Clementine, Archibald, Scarlet, and Arabella Perry; Sebastian and Ginger Wampler; and Taz Coffey.

A celebration of life is planned for 2022.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations in memory of Nancy Perry be made to:

Hospice of Southern Maine,

390 US Route One,

Scarborough, ME, 04074

or online at https://www.hospiceofsouthernmaine.org/.

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