Ralph Adrian Perkins

Husband. Father. Son. Brother. Patriarch.

Scholar. Teacher. Painter. Designer. Carpenter. Sculptor. Potter. Gardener. Dog Whisperer.

Philosopher. Poet. Friend.

My father spent nearly a century on this earth, acquiring many hats. He wore them all with equal style.

To the last year of his life, he was planning. Pointing. Striving. Anticipating. Erring always on the side of hope. Inclining himself toward the light. Refusing to give ground to the shadow.

In one of Dad’s favorite poems, “If”, Rudyard Kipling lists the traits of a fully realized human, ending with:

"If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the earth, and everything that’s in it,

And, what is more, you’ll be a man, my son."

Here, then is to running flat out, every mile of the course, and, in leaving the field, to still be asking,

“What’s next?”

Ralph Adrian Perkins

1929-2025