Jimmy Dayton Perry

Jimmy Dayton Perry, 77 years old, passed away on Tuesday, August 31, 2021. He was a longtime resident of Lindsay, Oklahoma.

Jimmy was born on December 17, 1943, to James (Jim) Perry and Ruth Perry in Hobbs, New Mexico. He was a baby when Jim entered the Army and spent time in the Pacific during WWII. The family moved to California for a short time after the war and then returned to Hobbs. In 1953 the Perrys moved to Spraberry, outside of Midland, Texas, where Jimmy graduated high school in 1961.

He attended Texas Lutheran College (now University) for three years before joining the service and serving in the Army Security Agency. After a four-year hitch he moved back to Hobbs where he married Linda Laneave in 1970. They had two children, Sean and Michelle. Linda passed away in 2011.

Jimmy was normally really good at whatever he took on. He was on the all-star team in Pony League baseball. Even at under 5-6 he was someone to be contended with on the basketball court, and he was fast, winning sprint competitions at track meets in his early teens. He could even do a standing backflip and did so thousands of times, which may at least partially explain the lower back issues he had later in life. The only sport he played, but which he never really got very good at, was golf. Many friends, family, and coworkers enjoyed playing golf with him through the years, but all can attest to his utter lack of ever getting the hang of it!

At Texas Lutheran, Jimmy joined the judo team (winning medals, of course) and was also editor of the school newspaper in his junior year.

For most of his career Jimmy worked in oil and gas related jobs, including gas station owner, gas plant operator and meter man. Later in his career Jimmy became a seismic processing analyst working both on shore in Houston, Dallas, Santa Cruz (Bolivia), and London, as well as on seismic acquisition vessels in the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea and other, more exotic places.

The one thing for which Jimmy is well-known, by people all over the world, is his love of bad jokes: puns and shaggy dog stories in particular. And he did not just repeat jokes he heard from someone else—he was forever making up new, horribly bad and obtuse jokes on his own. Seriously, often it was no pun listening to him! Having said that, Jimmy was a truly good and likeable man. One could easily get to know him, and thousands of people all over the world did.

Jimmy is preceded in death by his wife, Linda, his mother, Ruth Perry and his great grandson Liam Harrison. He is survived by four siblings: Libby Schovajsa and husband George of Hotchkiss, Colorado; Nonie Jobe and husband Ron of Rowlett, Texas; Gary Perry and wife Diana of Wylie, Texas; and Jeff Perry and wife Vicki of Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

He is also survived by his two children, Sean Perry and wife Denise of Lindsay, and Shell Howe and husband Chris, all of Lindsay, Oklahoma, along with 8 grandchildren, Jory Perry and his wife Tabatha, Amelia Harrison and her husband Tyler, Ethan Slay and his wife Ashley, Olivia Zimmer and her husband Zech, Brooklyn Perry, Ryan Perry, and Lorali Howe, and Jennifer Thomas.

He also had 7 great grandchildren, Liam Harrison, Blakelynn Slay, Lane Harrison, Quinn Zimmer, Hayden Zimmer, Wyatt Slay, Harper Slay, and Asher Zimmer.

A memorial service will be held at 10 am, Friday, September 10, at the United Methodist Church in Lindsay, Oklahoma. Interment of his ashes will take place at the Pickwick-McAdams cemetery in Graford, Texas, on the shore of Possum Kingdom Lake on Saturday, October 16. Arrangements are under the direction of John W. Williams of Winans Funeral Home, Maysville, OK. Words of comfort may be sent to the family at www.winansfuneralhome.com

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