Josephine C. Perkins

Josephine Carol Perkins passed away peacefully at her home in the loving care of her family at the age of 94. Josephine was a devoted wife of 69 years to John Marshall Perkins, Jr., and a loving mother of seven children, five boys, John, Jerry, Jeff, Jim, and Joe, and two girls, Josie, and Janet. Born in Philadelphia, Josephine started life in a large Italian family as the seventh child of Fortunato and Josephine Labate. As the youngest, Josephine received tender care from her three sisters, Francis, Rose, and Carmela, and the protection of her three brothers, Charles, Angelo, and Larry. Josephine fell in love with her husband, John, a submariner, towards the end of World War II, and they quickly married and started their family, giving every child a name that started with the letter J. After several years in Florida, and New Jersey, Josephine and John settled in northern Virginia, where she passed on August 13, 2020. Josephine was a strong, compassionate, tenacious, and feisty woman with a green thumb, who stood up for herself and loved to laugh and banter with people on current events and topics. Once a tradesman raided Josephine’s garden, taking vegetables without permission. Seeing this, she confronted the tradesmen and he gave back the vegetables. After recovering the vegetables, Josephine quickly prepared a bag of vegetables and other food items and gave them to the tradesman. Josephine loved entertaining people and was the perfect hostess during parties, when people would visit, and family get-togethers. Anytime family and friends visited they could not leave before she would offer them something to eat, drink, and a topic for conversation and debate, e.g., family, politics, or current events. Josephine is survived by her seven children and their spouses, John and Faith Perkins, III, Jerrold and Gail Perkins, Jeffrey Perkins, James and Jermaine Perkins, Josephine and Robert Yentes, Joseph and Elizabeth Perkins, and Janet and Jeff Boyd; 17 grandchildren and their spouses, Sherry and Gary Brooks, John Perkins, IV and Jennifer Hess, Michael Perkins, Kristen and Karo Isajan, Lindsey and Louis Diesel, Abigail and Brandon Hawm, Marshall Perkins, David Perkins, Matthew Perkins, Kelii Perkins, John Perkins, Julia-Marie Perkins, Jade-Michelle Perkins, Josephine Sara Yentes, Richard Yentes, Caroline Perkins, and Zachary Perkins; and five great-grandchildren, Tai Bowler, Josephine Ehredt, Lily Perkins, Brenna Brooks, and Colby Brooks. Visitation will be held on Thursday, 10 September 2020, from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM at Pierce Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 9609 Center Street, Manassas, VA. A Requiem Mass will be held on Friday, 11 September 2020, from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM at Saint Michael’s Catholic Church, located at 7401 St. Michael’s Lane, Annandale, VA. (https://stmichaelannandale.org/). Following the church service, there will be a reception for Josephine at her home in Annandale, VA. The funeral will be at Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) on Monday, 14 September 2020, from 10:00 AM. The funeral is limited to 50 people due to ANC restrictions. If you would like to attend the funeral, please contact John M. Perkins, III. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that donations be made to the American Cancer Society (https://www.cancer.org), or the Top Gun Fighter Foundation, a charity to help veterans with emotional pain (https://topgunfighterfoundation.org/).

Josephine C. Perkins

January 30, 1926 - August 13, 2020