Dedicated volunteer loved crosswords
ELVA H. PERRIN March 13, 1917 - April 30, 2015
Elva H. Perrin embraced challenges however they came. She used nursery rhymes to teach foreign languages to children in the youngest grades. She supported the war effort in the 1940s by taking a civil service exam and rising to chief clerk, an impressive accomplishment for a woman at the time.
She also became a highly regarded purchaser for Pittsburgh clothing stores and put in countless volunteer hours both before and after retirement. She enjoyed best-selling books, crossword puzzles and Pirates, Steelers and Penguins games with equal relish. She also made a brave comeback from a life-threatening injury in an auto accident.
Ms. Perrin died Thursday at age 98, having worked on her last crossword puzzle just the day before.
“My mother died as she lived, very peacefully,” said her daughter, Stephanie Zinman. “She also was a gracious, grande-dame lady. She loved life, loved being with her grandchildren. She had love in her heart for all.”
The lifelong Squirrel Hill resident was born March 13, 1917, the daughter of the late Harold and Ann Hendel. Her father was known as the “Fruit King of Pittsburgh” for his chain of produce markets around the city.
She graduated from Pittsburgh Allderdice High School and then Carnegie Institute of Technology, learning such languages as Spanish, French, German and Latin.
She taught briefly at the Falk School, using various methods to teach foreign languages in the early grades.
During World War II, she became a chief clerk for the wage and hour division of the National War Labor Board.
“She was very proud of the fact she was able to do that,” said her son, Ronald Perrin.
She later became a purchaser for clothing and other items the Linton’s and Miller’s clothing stores, becoming recognized nationally in industry circles. “She was seated at the best tables at restaurants when I went with her to New York,” Ms. Zinman recalled.
As she and her late husband, Paul C. Perrin, raised their children, she also volunteered as a leader for boys’ and girls’ scout troops. “She wanted to make sure she was very active in our lives,” her daughter said.
One day in 1974, as she was leaving work, Ms. Perrin was struck by a car in Squirrel Hill and had to undergo a craniotomy. She struggled with memory during her recuperation. When she had trouble recognizing her children, Ms. Zinman would start to sing “A Bushel and a Peck,” from the Frank Loesser classic “Guys and Dolls,” and her mother would complete the line, “a hug around your neck,” and say, “O, my Stevie is here!”
Ms. Perrin made a strong recovery, but she retired from work soon afterward and focused on volunteering, becoming a buyer for the Ladies Hospital Aid Society gift shop at Montefiore Hospital.
Three years ago, she was honored by the Jewish Association on Aging as one of “Eight over Eighty” for her extensive volunteer work.
In addition to her son and daughter, she had several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Services will be held at the Ralph Schugar Chapel, 5509 Centre Ave. in Shadyside, today at 3 p.m., with visitation at 2 p.m.