Person:Mary Burnett (7)

Obituaries: Friday, January 02, 1998 Mary Ellen Perkins, 85, Loved To Play, Win Christine Clarridge Seattle Times Staff ReporterSeattle socialite Mary Ellen Burnett Perkins loved to play games, and she loved to win, which she often did. Mrs. Perkins was a Life Master in the Contract Bridge League - which meant she was a top-echelon player - and she was a 50-year member of the Broadmoor Golf Club, where she had been captain of the women's team. Mrs. Perkins, who was born in Summerset, Manitoba, Canada, died Friday, Dec. 26. She was 85. She came to Seattle when she was 13, via an 11-day train trip with her parents and sister. Her father, a pharmacist, set up his store in what is now the Seven Gables Theater. Mrs. Perkins attended Roosevelt High School and majored in sociology at the University of Washington, where she was a member of the Kappa Gamma sorority. She once was voted the most beautiful woman on campus, according to her daughter, Linda Jay of Washington, D.C., who said Mrs. Perkins and her future husband, Clint Perkins, were the campus king and queen. Mrs. Perkins became interested in bridge as a young mother and channeled her energy and competitive spirit into it and golf, excelling at both. She also loved to design and sew clothes, making most of her own garments. "She was very talented in dress design," said her sister, Alice Gardner. Mrs. Perkins also was known as a great hostess. "She used to have great parties," Gardner said. "She was a very accomplished, classic lady," added Jay, who said her mother loved all manner of games and gave them frequently as presents to her three children. "It was important to her that we learn how to play, and how to play by the rules," Jay said. "None of us are as good at bridge as she was. "It did matter to her if she won or not. She was a perfectionist, and if she had a downfall, that was probably it." According to Gardner, Mrs. Perkins would have counted her children and grandchildren as her greatest accomplishments. "She was very pleased with them. They all did her proud," Gardner said. Besides Jay and Gardner, she is survived by her daughter Luann Perkins and son Jeff Perkins, both of Seattle, eight grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Ada Jane Shearer and The Shearer Historians. Shearer Family History. (Created in Elma Township in 1938 and maintained by Shearer Reunion Historians. Information was reported by knowledgeable family members and was well maintained in the early years.).
2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Isa Cleland. Information that Isa researched on the Shearers. (This information was gathered by Isa until her death in 1999. Most is copied from the Shearer Family Tree.).