Edith Perry was not quite a Santa Cruz native, but very close. She arrived at the Capitola railroad station in 1918 at the age of two months. Her family settled in Live Oak where her parents started a nursery specializing in Gerbera daisies. She developed an early love for plants and helped run the family flower shop on Soquel Avenue in the late 1930s. She graduated from Live Oak School in 1932 and Santa Cruz High School in 1936. There she was an honor student, played basketball, and was a member of the Daba Goba Art Club.
Edith’s first love was art. When she was a little girl and would get bored, her mother would always say, “Draw a picture.” She was an early member of the Santa Cruz Art League where she became friends with artists Margaret Rogers and Cor de Gavre. In the early 1940s she worked downtown in the old Trust Building, hand-painting wooden souvenirs for Sinkinson’s. She would paint little hula girls on bowls which would be shipped to Hawaii. Soldiers would buy them to ship back home to their girlfriends.
After the War she worked at the Brown Bulb Ranch, then for P. D. Wilson’s in Soquel where she decorated redwood novelties and became head of the art department. The boss said he wished he had several “Ediths” because she worked so fast.
At Wilson’s she met her future husband, George Joseph Perry, who was foreman of the wood shop. When they got married, the boss announced that he was going to reduce George’s salary since “two can live as cheaply as one.” George promptly quit for both of them, and the two went into business for themselves. In a remarkable coincidence, Edith’s sister, Mary, had earlier married a man also named George Joseph Perry, though they were unrelated.
At first they made redwood novelties like at Wilson’s, selling to gift shops at Big Basin, the Mystery Spot, the Santa Cruz Wharf, Muir Woods, and north along the “Redwood Highway.” Eventually they began to focus on wooden toys instead, selling to toy stores and nursery schools. They made wooden boats, trucks, airplanes, trains, cut-out animals, rocking horses, play furniture, doll furniture and dozens of other kinds of toys.
They also made outdoor play houses, pretend trains, crawl-through boxes, and “bottomless boats” for sand boxes. When they delivered the toys to the schools, the children would give them big hugs. She and George thought they were fortunate in having a job that made children so happy. They sold to schools in Sacramento, Marin County, Oakland, Saratoga, and Santa Cruz.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s they sold toys through the Senior Craft Co-Op on Soquel Avenue and at the Christmas Gift Fair in Watsonville.
She and George built two houses, almost entirely by themselves. Edith even nailed all the wooden shingles on the roof. She was 48 at the time and lived in the second house for the next 48 years.
After George died in 1984, Edith resumed oil painting, joining a class at SCO on Market Street. She made many good friends through the class, which continued to meet for over 25 years.
She also loved baking, sewing, canning fruit, gardening, and caring for her cat. Her granddaughters grew up close by, and she instilled in them a love of art, baking, and gardening.
An amateur musician, Edith played both organ and piano. In later years she took weekly lessons from local music legend Velzoe Brown until Velzoe passed away at age 101. “Velzoe was the best friend I ever had,” she said.
In 2009 her story of growing up in Live Oak was published by the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History in a volume titled “Pathways to the Past.” She said that at first her father regretted buying land in Live Oak—too far out in the country.
Edith was a very caring person, always there to comfort friends and relatives in times of sickness and need. Though she lived through her share of sad things in life, she always kept a very positive demeanor. “Look on the bright side,” she would often say.
So, it is in that spirit that the family shares these happy memories of her long life. Edith passed away October 9 at age 96.
Edith was preceded in death by her brother, Art, sister Dorothy Mary, and her husband, George.
This site was last updated 1-21-2024