The Rev. John Wallis Perry

The Reverend John Wallis Perry was ordained into the priesthood on December 18th, 1999 at St. James Episcopal Church, where he had been serving as deacon after accepting a call to become rector there.
Father Perry was born December 22nd, 1948 in the Bronx, New York the son of John and Helen Perry. Quoting Father Perry, "In a big city, neighborhood is everything; your neighborhood is your town. In that sense, growing up in a neighborhood in a big city is very similar to growing up in a small town."
His mother's family were Episcopalians and his father's family, Roman Catholic. His mother converted to the Roman Catholic faith when she married, and thus John was raised in the Roman Catholic Church. He still had many Episcopalians around him.
Father Perry attended Our Lady of Mercy, elementary school, a Roman Catholic school. After that he attended Fordham Preparatory School for his high school years, and then went to Fordham College where he graduated in 1970. Fordham College is located in the Bronx and is run by Jesuits.
John Perry met Eleanor Cawley while at Fordham, and they were married on April 22, 1972. The Perry's moved to Vermont where they began raising a family. They are the parents of 3 children, Ben, who at this time, is living in New York City, Sarah, who is attending Fordham College, and David, who is attending Titusville High School.
In 1996, after John discerned a call into the priesthood, he, along with his family, left Vermont so he could attend the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.John's discernment process took awhile, mainly because he resisted it for a long time. His family, yhe parish, and the diocese had encouraged him to enter the process, but he didn't listen to them. Upon finally agreeing to enter the process, still claiming that he didn't know he was supposed to be a priest, his wife said "John, that train left the station a long time ago. Don't you think it's about time you got on board?" He graduated from there in 1999 with a Master of Divinity degree. He was ordained a Transitional Deacon in June of 1999.
While at St. James, Father Perry was instrumental in developing many new outreach programs in the church. He helped the congregation see a need in the community, and thus a food pantry and Soup Kitchen were established. He helped the people of St. James reach out to those in need. Father Perry held healing services, not only at St. James but also at different locations in Titusville, where people could attend them that wouldn't have been able to otherwise, because of age or health reasons.
Father Perry left St. James in March of 2004 to serve Christ Episcopal Church in Hudson, New York.