Emily H. (Hanna) Perrett

Emily H. Perrett, of Manchester, Connecticut and Old Orchard Beach, Maine, passed away peacefully amid loving family members on June 2, 2021, at age 99. She had been in the care of The Hearth at Gardenside in Branford, Connecticut since March 2020.

Emily Gertrude Hanna was born on August 13, 1921 to William J. and Edith (Lutton) Hanna, in Manchester, Connecticut. She grew up on Foster Street in Manchester, along with her older brother William and younger sister Jean. The entire family was active in the Manchester Citadel Corps of The Salvation Army. Emily sang in the Songsters at the Corps.

Emily graduated as Valedictorian of Manchester High School’s class of 1939B. After graduation, she went immediately to work at the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company in Hartford, CT. She moved to New York City in 1944, where she worked at Booth Memorial Hospital as Secretary to the Director until 1947. She then worked as Executive Secretary to the Executive Vice President of Roosevelt Hospital from 1947 until 1952. She married William A. Perrett of Manchester in 1950.

Bill and Emily moved to Levittown, New York in 1953, where they raised their four children. She was active in the Levittown Community Church, where she served as Financial Secretary, taught Sunday school and was a longtime member of the choir.

In the mid 1960s, Emily decided to return to the work force. She first needed to study for and obtain her first driver’s license. She worked in a number of administrative positions, retiring in 1987 as Office Manager at The Salvation Army’s Community Center in Hempstead New York, where she had worked since 1981.

Emily’s beloved Bill had passed away in 1982; she chose to start the next chapter of her life in Old Orchard Beach Maine, a longtime family vacation spot. She purchased a beach cottage next door to her sister-in-law and best friend Ethel Orfitelli in 1987, and spent the better part of the next 32 years there, dividing time between Maine, Manchester, and St. Petersburg, Florida, visiting with family and keeping up with childhood and workplace friends.

In retirement, Emily was active in The Salvation Army, both in Old Orchard Beach and Manchester. In recent years, she spent many a December morning counting the donations that had been made to The Salvation Army Christmas kettles, and was a regular member of social groups at the Army.

She loved her family deeply, was a generous hostess to friends and family alike, and looked forward eagerly to beach cottage visits from her children and grandchildren. She will be missed by the members of her Old Orchard Beach ladies’ breakfast club.

Emily was loved dearly and will be missed by friends and family. She leaves behind her four children — Kathie Perrett (Jonah Berest), Steven Perrett (Gretchen), Joanne Perrett Rice (Paul), and David Perrett (Kathy); six grandchildren — David Perrett, Annaliese Perrett (Hannah Pressley), Christina Rice, Jennifer Rice, Sarah Bierlein (Bryan) and Rachel Perrett; one soon-to-arrive great-grandchild — Charlotte Ann Bierlein; and several nieces, nephews, grand and great-grand nephews and nieces.

The family wishes to express their gratitude to the staff at the Hearth at Gardenside and the hospice nurses from VNA Community Healthcare & Hospice for their loving care.

A memorial service will be scheduled later this year. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Emily’s memory to the Manchester Citadel Corps of The Salvation Army, 661 Main Street, Manchester, CT 06040.

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