Sophie Elizabeth Reich Perkins' Obituary
OBITUARY FOR SOPHIE REICH PERKINS
February 15, 2012 Sophie Elizabeth Reich Perkins passed away peacefully in Voorhees, NJ of natural causes. She was born in Sloatsburg, NY on March 27, 1919 to Sima Schoenfeld Reich and Jack Reich. It was a snowy day and, as was common at the time, the attending doctor came to the home to deliver Sophie.
The family – including Sima, Jack and brothers Herman and Joe - lived in Sloatsburg until they moved to a home on Winter Place in Mahwah, NJ.
Sophie was 10 years old when the Great Depression began but said her family never went hungry. How lucky she was that her “worst childhood memory” was that she didn’t have a sweet 16 party.
Sophie attended Ramsey High School in Ramsey, NJ and graduated as salutatorian of her class. The yearbook quote about her was: “Personality, a ready smile, a leader always – that’s Sophie.” Despite her excellent grades, she understood that it was “most important” that her brothers go to college and they couldn’t afford to send all 3 children so, after graduation, she went to secretarial school. She worked as a secretary at Johnson & Johnson in New York City and attended night school at NYU.
Sophie met Irving Perkins at a dance at Barnert Temple in Paterson, NJ in 1938. There was an instant attraction. Sophie later said that, if she had known Irving was only 8 months older than her she would not have gone out with him as she had been more interested in finding someone several years older than she was. Fortunately, she didn’t know . . .
As with many men at the time, Irv enlisted in the US Army in 1942 during WWII. With only 2 weeks notice that Irv would be home on leave, Sophie planned an entire wedding including engraved invitations, a custom-made wedding dress, an orchestra not to mention the synagogue’s cantor, Richard Tucker who sang and would later go on to become one of the greatest tenors of all times, and 5 friends and cousins as bridesmaids. Sophie and Irv were married on May 30, 1943 and their honeymoon was spent travelling to Louisville, KY, where Irv was stationed at Fort Knox. Sophie became the secretary to the head of the camp. When Irving was shipped off to Europe to fight in the Battle of the Bulge, Sophie returned to her parents’ home in Mahwah, NJ for the balance of the war.
At the end of the war, Irv came home and they wanted to have a home of their own. There were not enough houses for all of the returning veterans but they finally found a home at 13 Interstate Street in Suffern, NY. Rick (their eldest child) and Nancy were both born in this home. They moved to a much larger home in Ramsey, NJ in 1954 just after Brian (the youngest) was born. Sophie and Irv lived in this home for 42 years. Sophie had passed this house every day on the way to high school and she had always loved the house.
Sophie believed that her children should work hard so they could achieve whatever they wanted and she held them to very high standards. She firmly believed that women should strive to achieve whatever it was they wanted. She was definitely a woman ahead of her time.
Her friends and relatives were so important in her life. When they were in their early 20s, she and a number of her female friends/relatives (“The Girls”) began playing bridge once a week. At some point, they switched to canasta but, nearly 60 years later, they were still playing having forged friendships for life.
Sophie was also an active leader in her community. She held the positions of president of the League of Women Voters, president of the Ramsey Parents & Teachers Association and president of Sisterhood at Congregation Sons of Israel in Suffern, NY. She was also a girl scout leader. She was a most wonderful and respected sounding board to all who knew her.
Above all, Sophie loved her family. Even after nearly 60 years of marriage, she said that the best part of her marriage was being with her husband. She easily admitted that her husband, Irv, was the most important person in her life and said that he was her hero for going into the army, fighting in World War II as well as supporting his mother and brother after his father died when Irv was 19 years old. It was extremely important to Sophie that her children never felt that their parents had a “favorite”. When she asked each one of them individually, in confidence, each one (Rick, Nancy and Brian) said that they had always felt that they were the favorite child. She had achieved her goal. She was also a very loving and caring daughter, sister, cousin, wife, aunt, grandmother, great grandmother and friend.
She wasn’t always a sports enthusiast but she became one. Both of her sons played little league baseball and both played basketball in high school and college. And, she attended nearly all of their games. To fill in the gap between the 2 sons playing high school basketball, her daughter was a cheerleader and Sophie didn’t miss any of those football or basketball games either.
Sophie and Irv travelled extensively: from Australia and New Zealand to Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, and Singapore to Israel, Greece, the UK, Sweden and Russia and to Mexico, Canada and around the U.S. to name a few.
When she was in her mid-to-late 80s, she discovered online bridge. She would play with people from around the world. She loved it. Sophie was never afraid to learn new things.
Sophie wanted a big birthday party for her 85th birthday. So, she had one . . . with 85 relatives and friends. In her speech, she thanked everyone for coming to her party and said something special about every person who attended.
Sophie is survived by her loving children Rick (and wife Shirley), Nancy, Brian (and wife Lois) four grandchildren (Jeff, Dan, DJ and Michael) and four great grandchildren (Mia, Ella, Will and Zoe).
You will always be in our hearts.
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