Thomas H. Perkins

Published by admin on Tue, 05/28/2019 - 11:16am

GARDNER—Thomas H. Perkins, 84, of Gardner, passed away peacefully May 25, 2019 at his home surrounded by family.
Born June 11, 1934 in Lafayette, IN, he was the son of A.W. and Kathryn (nee Brockman) Perkins. He was a Veteran of the United States Army, serving for two years. Tom married the former Joyce Dennison on May 4, 1957 at the Immaculate Conception Church in Braidwood. He retired from the Teamsters Local #179 and also worked for 55 years in custom carpentry and remolding. Tom helped his community in many ways. He served on the Gardner Grade School Board for nine years, served several years as planning commissioner and chairman for the Gardner Zoning Board, a board member for the South West Medical Center and helped with the Route 66 preservation committee. He was involved in Boy Scouting for 73 years and attended 10 U.S. Scout Jamborees and was also involved with the Ottawa Scouting/Heritage Museum for many years.
Surviving are his wife, Joyce; four sons: Tom W. (Dawn) Perkins, of Morris; Dan M. (Debbie Wiegand) Perkins, of Custer Park; Steve (Kriss Huff) Perkins, of Gardner and Tim (Colleen) Perkins, of Gardner; two daughters, Jan (Tim D.) Fehr, of Joliet and Shari (Gary) Unger, of Coal City; 12 grandchildren, 4 great-grandchildren and one brother, Willard Perkins, of Gardner.
Preceding him in death was his parents and sister-in-law, Dorothy Perkins.
Funeral services will be from the R.W. Patterson Funeral Home & Crematory, Thursday, May 30, 2019 at 9:30 a.m. to the St. Lawrence Catholic Church in South Wilmington for Mass of Christian Burial at 10 a.m. Rev. Stanley Drewniak will officiate. Interment with military honors will follow in Braceville-Gardner Cemetery. The visitation will be Wednesday, May 29, from 3-8 p.m. with Broken Arrow service from 7-7:30 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts in his name may be directed to Joliet Area Community Hospice, St. Lawrence Catholic Church, or the Ottawa Scout Museum.
For more information and to sign the online guestbook log on to www.rwpattersonfuneralhomes.com or find them on Facebook at R.W. Patterson Funeral Home & Crematory.
R.W. Patterson Funeral Home & Crematory, 401 E. Main St., Braidwood is in charge of arrangements.