William Robert Perkins
Born August 4, 1934 Died December 28, 2020. Son of the late Edward M. Perkins and Adele (Holweg) Perkins, Brother of Tom Perkins*, Dorothy (Perkins) Gregory, Edward G. “Ned” Perkins*, Ann (Perkins) Buchmann*, and Paul Perkins. Husband of Ina M. (Schaefer) Perkins. Father of Todd Perkins, Father-in-law of Gina Perkins. Grandfather of Charles “Charlie” Perkins
Bill was an easy going man who readily made friends and was always pleasant and personable. He graduated from St. Mary’s High School in 1952, and in June of 1956 was drafted into the Army, where he served in the 933rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade at Fort MacArthur, overlooking San Pedro Bay in Los Angeles. He attained the rank of Specialist 4 (SP4) as a SAM Launch Crewman. In April of 56, just prior to his enlistment, Bill became engaged to Ina Mae Schaefer, a close friend of his younger sister, Ann. After completing his 2 years active duty, Bill and Ina were married August 23, 1958 at St. George‘s Catholic Church in Affton.
After high school, Bill found a job as a receiving clerk at Hamilton-Schmidt Surgical Company, and returned there after his time with the Army, eventually settling in the Service Department repairing medical equipment. In 1966 Hamilton-Schmidt was purchased by Gentec Hospital Supply, which eventually went out of business in 1977. After a brief time with CW Alban Co, Bill took a position with St. Joseph’s Hospital in Kirkwood, in the Maintenance and Engineering Department. Bill worked for St. Joseph’s from 1978 until he retired in 1993.
Bill and Ina moved from their home in Kirkwood to Spring Hill Florida for retirement in 1994. They returned to St. Louis in 2014 after 20 years in Florida.
In 2018, Bill and Ina made the difficult decision to move from their apartment into Delmar Gardens West, where Ina still resides.
The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, for those who wish to do so, donations be made to any of the following charities:Wounded Warrior Project https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/Operation Homefront https://operationhomefront.org/ Disables American Veterans http://dav.org/
Services:Visitation will be held at St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church, 1420 S. Sappington Rd. (Crestwood),Thurs. Jan. 21, 9 a.m. until funeral mass at 10 a.m. Interment J.B. National Cemetery. KUTIS SOUTH COUNTY SERVICE.