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Tributes have been paid to a former town councillor who fought tirelessly to save Sandwich’s only care home.
Dick Perry, died on Monday, November 18 in Bristol, in a nursing home near his family, aged 90.
He initially came to Sandwich in 1960, with his wife Joyce, and three daughters Helen, Anne and Susy, to take up a post teaching geography at Sir Roger Manwood’s School.
His interest in politics led him to the local Liberal Party and he became the Dover Liberal Party Agent.
The grandfather of five remained a stalwart member of the South Thanet Liberal Democrat local party for many years, serving in many capacities and was chairman of the re-formed local party in the early 2000s.
When South Thanet and Dover local parties merged in 2010, to form the East Kent Coast Liberal Democrats, he was unanimously elected as the first president, a role he filled until his death.
During his four terms of office with Sandwich Town Council until May 2011, he fought tirelessly to keep open Wayfarers, the town’s Kent County Council-run home for elderly residents and was chairman of the Friends of Wayfarers.
He passed not knowing the fate of the care home, with his family choosing not to tell him of KCC’s final decision, made last month, to close it.
Fellow member Diana Osborne says he will be remembered as an “unsung hero”.
She said: “He was a generous and supportive father-figure to the local party, in his later years, opening his home for party committee meetings, and for fundraising events such as the annual summer barbecue.
“He could always be relied upon to provide wise, thoughtful, advice and was the voice of reason and respect.
“Personally, I never heard him raise his voice in anger. He was a man of peace.
“It is fitting that he died as he lived, peacefully. It is a privilege to have known him.”
The Mayor of Sandwich Cllr Jeff Franklin said: “He was a lovely man.
“He formed the Sandwich Library Action Group and was very involved with Wayfarers. Once he got involved in something, he was always determined to see it through.”
Mr Perry left Manwood’s in 1963 to take up a promotion at Friends’ School in Saffron Waldron, where he became head of geography and boys boarding, and in 1968 became headmaster of Fyfield Boarding School, a coeducational boarding school also in Essex.
He retired in 1986 and returned to Sandwich permanently, living at The Ramparts until this summer.
He was a lover of music and the arts and regularly attended concerts in St Mary’s Arts Centre, and was a Friend of St Peters.
He was an early supporter of Sandwich Festival over the August Bank Holiday weekend, helping to organise the Classic Car show on the Quay – to which he added his own 1938 Riley, 1962 MG Midget and 1973 Reliant Scimitar.
He was also chairman of the Sandwich Quay Regeneration Group.
Mr Perry’s funeral will take place in Bristol, but a thanksgiving service at St Clement Church in Sandwich will be on January 18, 2020.
