R. Mel Perry; County’s Pioneering Pediatrician

Ventura County’s pioneering pediatrician, R. Mel Perry of Ventura, died Wednesday in a local hospital following a brief illness. He was 84.

Perry practiced medicine for 35 years, arriving in Ventura in 1946 and establishing the first pediatric practice in the county.

He treated several generations of children, many of whom would not have survived without his care.

Perry was born Jan. 2, 1913, in Pondcreek, Okla. In September of that year, his family moved to Pasco, Wash., where the family owned and operated Perry’s Furniture store. It was while working for his father that Mel took to medicine, said his daughter, Emily Tilton of San Luis Obispo.

“His dad owned that furniture store, and at that time they were also helping the undertakers. When the undertakers were busy, he and his dad would help supply the coffins,” Tilton said.

“Dad would ride along sometimes, and he said that gave him the impetus to study medicine,” Tilton said.

Perry earned his medical degree from Duke University in 1938. While working in New York City, he met a nurse named Stella, and they were married in 1939.

“They met and fell in love in New York City. It was one of those old-fashioned love stories,” according to Tilton.

Perry served as a captain in the Army during World War II, and following the war he and his family settled in Ventura. He opened his first office in downtown Ventura on Main Street.

While Perry was eager about treating children, he was not sure whether the office would succeed. “It was kind of a new field, a specialty. The family practitioner charged $4 an office visit. He was going to charge $6. He wasn’t sure if he’d make it,” she said.

His practice was a success, and during his 51-year membership in the Ventura County Medical Society, Perry served as president more than once. He was a member of the Downtown Ventura Kiwanis Club and a member of Our Lady of the Assumption Parish. After retiring in the mid-1970s, Perry served as a medical advisor, teaching in the Resident Program at Ventura County Medical Center.

Perry enjoyed working in the garden, and was a gourmet cook.

“He had a pretty full life here,” Tilton said. “He kept real interested and active until the end.” Both Tilton and her sister Renee Johnson of Skillman, N.J., followed their father into medicine. They are both registered nurses.

In addition to his daughters, Perry is survived by sons Alan and Roger, both of Ventura; sister Mary Ellen Richardson of Pasco, Wash.; seven grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

He was preceded in death by his wife; parents Floyd and Edna Perry of Pasco, Wash.; brothers Floyd Jr. and Dick, both of Pasco, Wash., Tom of Walla Walla, Wash., and Ted of Portola Valley, Calif.; sisters Marge Langan of Antioch and Joyce Avery of Salt Lake City.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation or the Livingston Memorial Visiting Nurse Assn.

A rosary and vigil service will be recited at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Joseph P. Reardon Funeral Home, Ventura. Friends may visit the funeral home from 5 to 7 p.m. Sunday.

A Mass of Christian burial will be said Monday at 1 p.m. in Our Lady of the Assumption Church, Ventura, with Father Bob Biroschak as celebrant. Interment will follow in Ivy Lawn Memorial Park, Ventura.

Arrangements are under the direction of Joseph P. Reardon Funeral Home, Ventura.