MARYSVILLE — Carol Perry lived through two pandemics.
She was a baby in the 1918 Spanish flu that infected 500 million people. She was 101 when the COVID stay home order closed the bowling alley in 2020 and disrupted the planned celebration in March of her 102nd birthday with her league teammates.
At that time, she bowled in a regular league, not a senior league.
After a stroke in early 2023, she was back at the lanes later that year. In October, at age 105, she proved she could still roll a 163.
Perry died at home on Jan. 20, about two months away from turning 106.
A celebration of life will be held at 11 a.m. March 2 at Ebenezer Lutheran Church in Lake Stevens.
“She enjoyed life and she enjoyed people,” said her daughter, Kathy Larsen. “At her celebration of life she specified she wanted laughter and smiles and funny stories.”
Perry was the second-oldest of 20 kids. They had their own baseball team. Four of her sisters are still alive.
She graduated from Marysville High School in 1936. Her first job was at the Tulalip Tribes office. She drove there in her dad’s old panel truck with no door and had to stand up because she couldn’t reach the pedals while sitting.
“At her best, she was probably 5-foot-3,” Larsen said.
She married Wayne Perry in 1939. They raised three children. He died in 1995. She outlived their older son, Richard, who died in 2002.
She worked at Scott Paper Company, Deebe’s Department Store and the Safeway deli. In her 70s and 80s, she volunteered as a caretaker for homebound seniors.
She devoted many years to the Ebenezer Quilters, sewing with the group until the last couple months.
“She was the sweetest lady. She was fun to be around,” said Roseanne Cowles, Ebenezer church office administrator. “We’d all be talking and she’d pop up with something funny. She had a quick wit.”
Perry was in bowling leagues for decades, starting back when ladies were required to wear skirts. She was inducted into the Snohomish County United States Bowling Congress Hall of Fame in 2019. She also received a Centenarian Bowler award from the USBC for bowling after the age of 100.
The Daily Herald met up with her in February 2020 at Strawberry Lanes in Marysville. The team was called “Mom & Kids” and included her son, David, and her daughter. They were getting games in early due to the impending stay home order.
Carol Perry high fives her teammates after getting a strike during league bowling at Strawberry Lanes on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020 in Marysville , Wa. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Perry wore big hoop earrings and her thick white hair was styled in a shag cut. She swung a bowling ball with such ease that we had to look at her driver’s license to verify her age. At that time, she still drove, unless it was dark. Her license was valid until 2024.
She had downsized to a Brunswick ball that weighed “only” 9 pounds, as she put it, instead of her longtime 12-pounder.
She scooped up her blue swirled ball and flung the 9-pound weapon spinning down the lane.
All fell but one pin that wobbled in defiance.
“Go down, you devil,” she muttered, with a glint of a smile.
Carol Perry lines up her ball during league bowling at Strawberry Lanes on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020 in Marysville , Wa. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
She threw two strikes in a row in a 159 game that night.
Her highest bowling score was when John F. Kennedy was president.
“I was sicker than a dog and subbing on somebody’s team and I bowled a 258,” she said.
Perry never gave up hope for a 300.
Her children carry on the team name “Mom & Kids” in her honor at a senior league at Evergreen Lanes in Everett.
Donations in her memory can be made to Ebenezer Quilters at Ebenezer Lutheran Church or to Providence Hospice of Everett.
Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterbrown.
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