Party Profile: Nancy Perry, South Carolina
by Jennie Camp Hudgins
Like most of our tea parties, this one has a unique story behind it, one that spans a year and many miles! In May 2006, our very first Blue Hydrangea Tea Party hostess, Candy Carberry, held her tea party in New York. In her “after-party report,” she spoke of those she honored with her party, one of them being her cousin, Nancy Perry, who was doing battle with ovarian cancer. Nancy, she said, was from South Carolina and was a very hard-working advocate for children in the area, with an agency named for her. I checked out her work through the website for the agency and couldn’t believe that this treasure of a woman lived so near – Isn’t it ironic how often we find treasures right under our noses? I couldn’t believe how coming to know Candy way up there in New York state had also shown me a local hero living right here in South Carolina, in fact, in the next county!
So, as the second year of Blue Hydrangea Tea Party began to come into view for us, we experienced a moment of extreme exhilaration, when we received a party registration from a group of women who had learned of our concept through Nancy Perry! They desired to hold this tea party in her honor. They gave me the specifics of their plans and the list of hostesses involved with the event. Of course, we were beyond thrilled that our Blue Hydrangea Tea Party idea had spread, through word of mouth, from South Carolina to New York, then back to South Carolina, again! It was like so many of the “God-winks” we had experienced throughout the journey to get established as an ovarian cancer awareness event and fundraising tool. So, there were mental high-fives across cyberspace, as Elizabeth and I shared an outbreak of goose bumps!
Time went forward and the next update I received about Nancy’s party came in an email on May 21, 2007 from Candy. I learned then that, apparently, Nancy’s health had begun to fail in the midst of planning a party. After Candy’s party that first year, Nancy decided that she, too, wanted to serve as a hostess for a Blue Hydrangea Tea Party event. So, with her desire expressed, folks around her knew of her intentions. The hostesses I had heard from (Evon, Linda, Ann, Lou Ellen, Jorene, and Lois) had taken over for Nancy, when it seemed she wouldn’t be able to carry out the party plans without help. And, it turned into an opportunity to honor Nancy, as well. Nancy was a very determined fighter in her professional life as a social worker, specializing in adoption and child/family services. These qualities were certainly evident as she battled ovarian cancer and sought to be an advocate for ovarian cancer awareness by following through with her tea party, even as she was succumbing, physically, to the disease. Candy wrote to me that she knew Nancy’s battle was nearing an end and that their time together was running out. Candy had postponed her own party to fly to South Carolina to be with Nancy for her very own Blue Hydrangea Tea Party. “As sick as she was, Nancy was determined to go to her party,” Candy wrote. Nancy had wanted to participate in her tea party so badly that, in spite of her failing health, they rented a wheel chair and, Candy wrote, “away we went!!!” Nancy’s spirit was still strong despite the obvious.
Candy reported that Nancy’s doctor, Dr. James A. Williams, Jr., spoke about ovarian cancer. And, Nancy asked Candy to speak about the meaning of Blue Hydrangea Tea Party. From Candy’s email, it sounds as though it was a perfect day, full of meaningful moments to last a life time and filled with some surprises for Nancy - a woman who so richly improved her community. Nancy passed away June 23, 2007. In the months after that day, I received a report from Evon, one of the other hostesses of Nancy’s party. They raised $2,155.00 for the South Carolina Oncology Associates Cares Foundation, where Nancy had received treatment for her ovarian cancer. Attached to the email report that I received was the letter that had been sent to this organization with the donation, and in it was this sentiment…..“all of our lives have a missing piece.”
Nancy was truly a woman to be reckoned with. Her character was evident in her last days. Her wonderful legacy is more than just the Nancy K. Perry Children’s Shelter; it extends farther, even to the people who have been associated with her vision and her energy for doing good things in her community. They will go forward with a shining example of stewardship. In the end, what was left in her energy reserves she used not on herself but to benefit others. The cause of ovarian cancer awareness in South Carolina took another step forward on May 12, 2007. And, I believe that the quest to educate women about ovarian cancer will continue to move forward, because of women like Nancy, her colleagues, and friends, who graciously and selflessly volunteer their energies toward this endeavor.
Nancy and Candy (photo courtesy of the Perry family)