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Ypsilanti's Perry School Addition Dedication Set

Ypsilanti's Perry School Addition Dedication Set image
Parent Issue
Day
27
Month
November
Year
1956
Copyright
Copyright Protected
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Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
OCR Text

YPSILANTI—A modern seven-classroom addition to the 32-year-old Perry School here will be dedicated in ceremonies at 8 p.m. tomorrow in the school’s new gymnasium-auditorium.

Dr. Clair L. Taylor, state superintendent of public instruction, will deliver the dedicatory address.

The ceremony will be of double significance as it not only marks the dedication of the new classroom wing but also changes officially the name of the school from Harriet School to Perry School. The school has been renamed in honor of the late Dr. Lawrence C. Perry, who served as an officer and member of the Board of Education for 14 years.

Dr. Perry practiced dentistry for 32 years after graduation from the University of Michigan School of Dentistry in 1924 until his death here last April.

At the time of his death, at the age of 57, the Ypsilanti dentist was president-elect of the Washtenaw County Dental Society and president of the Negro Business and Professional League. He also had served as the first commander of American Legion Post No. 408 and had been active in Boy Scout work.

He was also a past-president of the Ypsilanti Housing Commission and the Family Agency, a member of the Salvation Army board of directors and assistant Sunday school superintendent at the Second Baptist Church.

Among members of Dr. Perry’s family who are expected to be present for the dedication ceremonies are his widow, Lillian Bass Perry of 324 S. Hamilton St., a son, Lawrence P. Perry of Lansing, and two daughters, Mrs. Frederick Wilson of Ypsilanti and Mrs. Calvin Sharp of Detroit.

Another son, Lowell W. Perry, is hospitalized as a result of an injury suffered in a professional football game early this month and will not be able to attend. Lowell, an end and 1951 all-American on the University of Michigan football team, is now a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers professional football team.

A tribute to Dr. Perry will be delivered by Washtenaw Circuit Judge James R. Breakey, jr.

Classes moved into the new Perry School addition last week. The school now has 21 classrooms and an enrollment of more than 600 pupils.

It is part of an over-all construction and renovation project. In addition to the classrooms and gymnasium-auditorium, the Board of Education has outlined a plan for some $69,000 worth of renovations for the 32-year-old school to be started during 1957.

According to present plans, the old gymnasium and auditorium is to be divided into two floors. The lower section is to be kept for group games and activities of the lower grades, while the upper section is to be remodeled into a library, clinic, teachers' room and storage rooms.

Also included in the overall plan are modernization of the original classrooms and addition of a lavatory unit. 

Pupils who were being taught in the nearby Parkridge Community Center because of a lack of classroom space have been returned to the school building.