Obituary of Noel Jan Perkins

Lakewood, WA. Noel Jan Perkins (he went by Jan) died January 27, 2008 at his home in Lakewood, WA after a lengthy illness with melanomas. He developed a melanoma about 16 years ago. He had numerous gamma knife treatments at the John Wayne Cancer Treatment Center in Santa Monica, CA and at the Northwest Hospital in Seattle, WA to remove small tumors in his brain. He kept outliving all of his doctor's predictions. Jan grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas and attended public schools there. He was an excellent swimmer and weight lifter. The Little Rock Central High integration crisis happened in Jan’s junior year, and when the high schools in Little Rock closed for his senior year, Jan, at age 16, was enrolled in Harding Academy, a boarding school, in Searcy, AR about an hour north of his home. After graduation, he enrolled in the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and played clarinet in the Razorback Marching Band. He was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity. Jan graduated with a BS degree in 1964, and enlisted in the US Army. Jan was selected to play clarinet in the US Army Berlin Band in Germany where he served two years. While stationed there, Jan met and married a young American girl, Christie, whose father was a Pan Am pilot stationed in Berlin. They remained in Germany and Jan worked as the Special Services Director for several Army posts in West Germany. Later he was transferred to Ft. Devins, MA as the Sports Director of Special Services. While assigned there, Jan received his MS from Boston University. Jan and Christie transferred to Ft. Lewis, WA where he was assigned to a larger facility for Special Services and Recreation for the soldiers there. While working at Ft. Lewis, in 1991, Jan developed a mole on his calf that biopsies determined to be malignant. A few years later the cancer had spread and Jan received treatment from Dr. Leland Foshag at the John Wayne Cancer Institute in Santa Monica, CA The doctors only gave Jan a few years to live, on a number of occasions, but he kept outliving the predictions. He continued to work at Ft. Lewis until his health would no longer allow it and he retired in 2002. After two craniotomies the gamma knife brain treatments were no longer enough to stay ahead of the tumors.. Jan died peacefully at home on January 27th. He wanted his ashes distributed on Hood Canal, where he loved to go crabbing and fishing, but I think he would want to save a few ashes for his beloved Arkansas, too. Jan and his wife Christie were married in 1967, had two sons, Mark and David (Shalimar) and a grand son, Ramsey, who live in North Bend, WA, near Tacoma. A brother, Gary (Marla), and a sister, Sarah Perkins, of Hot Springs, AR., also survive Jan. If you care to do so, memorials may be sent to your choice of Jan's selections: Washington State Special Education Coalition The Angeles Clinic & Research Institute Franciscan Hospice Mark Anderson, Treasurer 2001 Santa Monica Blvd. 560W 2901 Bridgeport Way W. PO Box 22 Santa Monica, CA 90404 University Place, WA 98466 Ravensdale, WA 98501 310.582.7976 253.534.7000 www.theangelesclinic.org Honoring Dr. Leland Foshaq and his work with melanoma patients