Audrey J. “Juanita” Perez, 82, a resident of Ketchikan, Alaska, died at Providence St. Peter Hospital, Olympia, Wednesday, October 29, 2014. She was born in Portland, Oregon, September 9, 1932, the daughter of Roy and Ruby (Conrow) MCclung.
She had attended schools in Oregon City, OR and went to Alaska at the age of 17. She remained in Alaska most of the rest of her life. For twelve years she had lived in Springfield, OR where she was a lab technician for Foster Farms. She had also lived in Aberdeen for a short time. In her early years she had also worked in canneries in Alaska and picked fruit in the West.
She enjoyed gardening and raising flowers, crocheting, making fudge for everyone at Christmas and especially living for her kids and grandchildren.
Juanita was a born-again Christian.
Juanita was married to James Smith in Portland in 1948 and he died in Seaside, OR in 1992. She then married Martin T. Perez, Sr. in Ketchikan in 1995. He died there just this last June. He was the Chief of the Brown Bear Clan of the Tlingit Tribe of Alaska.
Juanita had come to Aberdeen to visit family when ill health began. Among her survivors are a son: Leslie Smith of Aberdeen; a daughter: Judy Kivi, of Ketchikan, AK; a brother: Bill Fitzgerald, Springfield, OR; and a sister: Alleen Green, Quartzite, AZ; and also six grandchildren: Jeffrey, Christerpher, Bryan, and Rodney Perez, and Eugenia Buchanan and Aaron K. Smith; and six great grandchildren. A son, Gary, died before her in 1955.
A funeral service will take place at 2 PM Saturday, November 8th in the chapel at Fern Hill Funeral Home, Aberdeen. Private entombment will take place in Fern Hill Colonnades.
A card of condolence with a message or a memory may be sent to the family at www.fernhillfuneral.com
Arrangements are entrusted to Fern Hill Funeral Home, 2208 Roosevelt St., Aberdeen.