Valerie Grace Lockhart Perkins passed away at home in Slidell, LA on Tuesday, June 28, 2022, with her three children by her side. She was born during a thunderstorm on Wednesday, June 13, 1941, in Brooklyn, NY and spent her youth with her two brothers on 78th Street & 13th Avenue where she was raised by her mother, aunt, and grandmother. In this Italian neighborhood, the Irish family formed lifelong friendships and enjoyed delicious Italian bakeries as well as the perfect NY pizza. Valerie skipped the 7th grade and graduated from New Utrecht High School in 1958. While at New Utrecht, a school counselor told her, "If you ever manage to get into college, you'll never get out." Challenge accepted. Valerie secured a free college education at Hunter College in Manhattan, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1962 and continuing on to graduate school.

Upon a trip to Woods Hole, MA, Valerie met her former husband Henry Perkins. They married in 1963, dividing their time between New York City and New England. In 1967, she obtained a Master of Arts in education with an analytical thesis on one of her favorite children's books, The Wind in the Willows. In 1970, the couple welcomed their first child before moving to Kiel, Germany where they lived in a tiny basement apartment for a year, learned German by immersion, and enjoyed adventures around Europe. In 1971, they settled in Key Biscayne, FL and welcomed two more children. The family then moved to Slidell, LA, where Valerie resided for the remainder of her life. Over the next decade, the family took long summer trips in their red Buick station wagon to visit relatives in Brooklyn and Downeast Maine.

Valerie had a love of travel and endless curiosity about diverse cultures. With her family, she spent summers in Italy, visiting Austria, Germany, England, Sardinia, and France. Notably, she spent her 50th birthday in Greece, her 60th travelling the Caribbean, and her 70th in Belize. She loved visiting Woods Hole and Cape Cod every chance she got, where she strove to find the best lobster roll - a perfect excuse to try them all. During the holidays she rotated between her children's families in Louisiana, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. Wherever she travelled, you could be certain she'd be sporting clothes in navy blue - her signature color.

In Slidell, Valerie taught as a gifted and talented special educator at the KEEP Center and Little Oak Elementary, retiring in 2007. During this time, she continued her own education, ultimately earning a Master's +30. A gifted visual artist, while still teaching full-time she also began a position as an art instructor at Northminster Presbyterian Montessori School. An absolute highlight of her professional career was to be chosen as a Fulbright Scholar in 2005, which included a multi-week trip to Japan for educational training, cultural immersion, and a home stay with a local family. She continued at Northminster until COVID forced her retirement at the age of 78.

Valerie could be found taking daily one-hour walks in an oversized sunhat, reading over a variety of topics, and endlessly photocopying those topics to send to her children - her version of texting. Gram never arrived for a visit without stacks of particularly important papers to share! Her interests were incredibly varied and included topics such as genealogy, Italian history, Pinocchio , the Pearlies of Victorian London, Rockingham teapots, Japanese Sumi-e painting and Ikebana flower arranging, lemons, and the wonders of turmeric and matcha tea. She had so much to learn and absorbed information like a sponge if the topic took her fancy. In recent years, her evenings were capped off with a good laugh watching Stephen Colbert make the best of the world's current events.

Valerie is survived by daughter Bethany Perkins and son-in-law Peter Lamson of Spartanburg, SC; son Adam Perkins of Slidell, LA; former daughter-in- law Leyla Hekmatdoost Perkins of Covington, LA; and daughter Jordan Perkins Bailey and her husband Michael Bailey of Annapolis, MD. She will be greatly missed by her grandchildren Mina, Alexander, Keating, Cora, Henry, and Ellis; older brother Harvey Lockhart and his wife Marilyn of Huntington, NY; and brother-in-law Timothy Wells of Teaneck, NJ, as well as extended family. Valerie treasured many relationships past and present, including cherished friends Irene Gravel and Patrice Box. She is predeceased by her mother Grace Keating Lockhart, her father, younger brother Bruce Keating Lockhart, former husband Henry Thomas Perkins, and free-spirited granddaughter Zahra Grace Perkins.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation on Valerie's behalf to St. Jude Children's Hospital or your local library. A Celebration of Life will be held in Slidell, LA this fall, following which her ashes will be interred in Penobscot, ME.