Memories of Uncle Harlin

Harlin and Betty

My Uncle Harlin's step-daughter - my step-cousin? - sent this obituary, "Harlin J. Perryman," published in The Sacramento Bee (September 26, 2015):

Harlin J. Perryman was born in Zion, Arkansas, August 13, 1927, to Henry and Sarah Mabel (Shell) Perryman.

Near the close of World War II, and after he had graduated from Salem High School, his father signed the paperwork for him to serve in the U S Navy. His tour of duty completed, he returned to Arkansas and attended the University of Arkansas earning a Bachelor's Degree in History and a Master's Degree in French History. As he prepared to continue his studies for his Ph.D. at Penn State, he decided he had been away long enough and returned home. There he enrolled in law school and ran for the Arkansas State Assembly, winning the seat previously held by his father. After his graduation from law school and entrance to the bar, he lost his re-election bid to the Arkansas State Assembly. As a result he decided to travel the United States in search of a place to put down roots.

He finally settled in the South Bay area of San Jose, California. There he started a lengthy career in law. He also continued his interest in politics serving on several local and regional campaigns. He met and married Betty Baldwin. With Betty came a ready made family of 4 children, William, Melody, Steven and Deborah. Their five grandchildren, Marcella, Jeff, Kelly, Bethany and Hannah were a part of his life.

After their retirement in 1991, Harlin and Betty moved to the community of Magalia in Butte County. There they continued their activities in community events, playing bridge, gardening, volunteering and traveling. During this time Harlin, an avid cyclist, logged over 20,000 miles on his bicycle, becoming known as the "man who biked everywhere" around the ridge. As part of his cycling, he also became interested in watching the various birds he saw. He became an active member of the Audubon Society in both Butte and Sacramento Counties.

In Sept. 2000, Betty predeceased him after a long battle with diabetes. In 2006 he relocated, this time to Sacramento, to watch over Melody's house while she was working out of the area. Here he continued his interest in birdwatching and traveling, taking excursions several times a year on Audubon trips both in the United States and Canada.

He was predeceased by his father, mother, brother Max Henry and sister Hala Ferguson. He is survived by his sisters Ava Jo Bowling of Horseshoe Bend, Arkansas and Gay Miller of Salem, Arkansas. He has extended family on both coasts and overseas. He loved to hear about their lives and adventures through his sisters. A Celebration of Life will be held behind Mather Air Force Base at Mather Regional Park Oct. 10th from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. A parking fee will be provided by the family. In lieu of flowers, donations made to the Sacramento Audubon Society would be appreciated.

There's one mistake that probably needs correcting. Harlin's brother was not "Max Henry," but rather "Marx Henry." The name "Max," however, could be considered a laudable error that at least undoes an old, perhaps egregious error, for Marx was meant to be named "Marks," after one of Grandpa Perryman's Jewish friends in Arkansas politics, not Karl Marx.

The name "Marx" would have been a rather heavy burden to bear outside of the small community of Salem, Arkansas . . .

Still more on Uncle Harlin - and his Life among the Birds

National Audubon Society
Wikipedia

In the Sacramento Audubon Society's newsletter, The Observer (Volume 67, No. 6, July/August 2015), there's a lovely obituary on Uncle Harlin titled "In Memorium: Harlin Jackson Perryman," (pdf) and I learned some details about him that I didn't know, along with a refresher on several that I did know:

Harlin was born in Zion, Arkansas August 13, 1927. He got his father's signature to enter the Navy the day after he graduated from Salem High School. The GI Bill meant he would be able to [study later and even] get his PhD. However, he got homesick [in graduate school at Penn State] and returned to the University of Arkansas to attend law school. He was elected to the State Assembly during the troubled mid-1950s.

Uncle Harlin's father was the very man who - along with Harlin's mother - raised me and my four brothers. His name was Henry Jefferson Perryman, and he was our grandpa. Identifying Uncle Harlin as "homesick" is a polite term for "mistreated" (by his Penn State adviser, who thought all Southerners were ignorant rednecks, and Harlin had an Ozark accent, which he retained his entire life). The "troubled mid-1950s" refers to Arkansas's reaction to the Civil Rights Movement. Harlin was against the segregationist Governor Faubus and on the side of integration.

He graduated law school and traveled the United States to find a place to live. He finally settled on California. Alaska was a very close second.

He told his mother - my grandma, who told me - that he couldn't get used to the "midnight sun" in Alaska, which was one reason he moved south to California.

In California he met and married Betty Baldwin. She had children and the whole lot became a family. He bumped along through life and did the normal things of retiring, becoming a "Grandpa," and moving to Sacramento.

That little bit covers a lot of territory. He worked as a lawyer, became a wine expert, played a lot of chess, and rose to the position of Treasurer in California's Democratic Party, among other things. He was considered for nomination to the Supreme Court of California way back in the late 1970s, early 1980s, but Governor Jerry Brown didn't like him and refused to support him.

[In] February 1997[,] . . . his step-daughter Melody Baldwin took him on a Sacramento Audubon trip. He fell in love with the birds and the whole process of watching and identifying birds. He met Tim Fitzer and an 11 year old boy named Dan Williams. They encouraged him to come on other trips. Over the next 28 years he would brag that he had gone on more trips than anyone else in one particular year . . .

What follows in the obituary are the events of Harlin's life among the birds, which is about the time I lost contact with him, but the length of that lost contact was 18 years, not the typo 28 (check the math: 1997-2015). For the details of his Audubon life, click on over to the newsletter (pdf) and read more.

I hope more folks who knew Harlin will leave comments there . . .

Another comment about Uncle Harlin . . .

Sacramento Audubon Society
Uncle Harlin Third from Right

Facebook Banner Photo

Dan Kopp, a real estate agent in Sacramento, California, left a comment on my blog of Uncle Harlin's obituary:

Harlin was a fixture on Sacramento Audubon field trips; in fact, if you look at the Sacramento Audubon Facebook page you will see Harlin in the top banner photo.

Thanks for that tip - I've 'borrowed' the photo. If you look, you'll find Harlin third from the right, a partially hidden, stooped but still tall old man.

Several of us had, and will retain, many Harlin-isms. He was a tad cantankerous, but so am I, had a habit of elbowing folks away from spotting scopes so he could get a look (he often became miffed if someone took more than three seconds to look) and let you know exactly what he thought about anything!

Not a politically correct fellow in some of those opinions, I'd bet:

He forever changed my vocabulary regarding what we all used to call telephone polls: "they're utility poles!" he would half-way shout in frustration.

I think I also underwent that learning experience with him once. Let's see what else he did:

Every field trip to Bodega Bay he would insist on getting clam chowder . . . [around] noon, even though the trip write-up said to bring lunch and liquids, so as to keep the down time to a minimum . . . he still made whoever brought him break away from the group to take him to The Tides restaurant for his clam chowder.

Well, he probably earned that chowder, living as long as he did and prowling around for birds despite his age.

I believe I last saw Harlin in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco earlier this year, while there for a rare bird, a Rustic Bunting. The man did get around despite his age and decreasing mobility; as you know, he birded right to the last day.

Yes, that's what my brother Shan told me. Anything else?

I could probably go on but there others in Sacramento Audubon who spent a lot more time with him; hopefully they will add some more stories.

Add more, everybody! This could turn out to be a very informed obituary after all, so if you have any stories to add, then add them there.

And thanks to Dan Kopp for more about Harlin!

Footnote to Uncle Harlin's Obituary

Harlin Perryman
Obituary
Gypsy Scholar

In speaking with my mother over dinner the other night, I learned that my uncle Harlin had beaten Boris Alexander at chess when Alexander visited Salem in 1943 or 1944.

"Who's Boris Alexander?" I asked.

"He was a professor of political science and economics at LeMoyne College, in Memphis, Tennessee," my mother explained. She added the details that he was originally a refugee from the Bolshevik Revolution and that he was in Salem looking for a peaceful place for his mother to live.

I decided to look into what I could find on this man, and here are some details on his position as a debate coach in the 1930s:

"Team To Debate Negro Squad: Lemoyne College Students Will Oppose Adams, Hartmann on Question of Constitutionality"

Boris Alexander, debate coach of LeMoyne College for Negroes, Memphis, Tenn., brings a team of outstanding speakers to meet Stanford next Wednesday for what promises to be one of the most interesting debates ever held on the Stanford campus.

Bob Adams and Bob Hartmann, sophomores who get their first big call when they meet the Negroes, will represent the Farm [i.e., Stanford].

Four on Team

The colored team is composed of four brilliant students: Charles W. Gilton, Robert Green, James S. Byas, and John H. Jones. Alexander has not yet revealed which two he will use against Adams and Hartman.

The question confronting the two teams will be, "Resolved, that Congress should be allowed by a two-thirds majority vote to over-ride a decision of the Supreme Court declaring an act of Congress unconstitutional." Stanford will uphold the affirmative.

Decision To Be Given

The debate is to begin promptly at 8 o'clock in the Assembly Hall.

A decision will be given. Coach Alexander was the first person ever to arrange an interracial debate south of the Mason-Dixon line. He was born in Russia and studied in England. He received his Ph.D. degree from LeMoyne and an M.A. degree in international law from the University of Illinois.

(The Stanford Daily, Volume 89, Issue 9, 20 February 1936)

Interesting to learn that he got his doctorate from LeMoyne. Perhaps he was already teaching there on the basis of his M.A. and worked on his doctorate while teaching. Here's more on the man:

"Soph Debaters Face Negro Team: Adams and Hartman Get First 'Big Chance' with Lemoyne College Tomorrow Night"

Bob Adams and Bob Hartmann, the two outstanding sophomore debaters, pair together for Stanford Wednesday evening at 8 o'clock in the Assembly Hall for their first "big chance." They face a team of Negroes from LeMoyne College, Tennessee, who come up to argue the negative side of the Pi Kappa Delta question.

Hartmann is the freshman debate manager. He won the California Coast League Championship held at the Golden Gate Junior College last year. He and Max Gruenberg took third in the West Division Debating Association Tournament in which more than 200 Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast colleges participated.

Adams debated against San Mateo Junior College this year, and was an alternative for the University of Melbourne debate.

The LeMoyne debaters are meeting fifteen Coast colleges while on tour. Their coach is Boris Alexander, one of the originators of interracial debating.

The question to be discussed is, "Resolved: that Congress should be allowed by a two-thirds majority vote to override a Supreme Court decision declaring an act of Congress unconstitutional."

(The Stanford Daily, Volume 89, Issue 12, 25 February 1936)

And there's another report from Stanford:

"Debate Team Discusses Court: Bob Hartmann, Bob Adams Meet LeMoyne College Students In Non-decision Controversy"

John Jones and Robert Green of LeMoyne College upheld the finality of Supreme Court decision last night in a non-decision debate against Bob Adams and Bob Hartmann of Stanford in the Assembly Hall. Boris Alexander, coach of the Negro team, was chairman of the discussion.

Question Stated

Expressive of the "quotationed" type of argument used by the visiting team was Bob Hartmann's comment in the final rebuttal speech, "We knew when we came on to the stage this evening that we were going to match wits with two brilliant speakers, but we had no "idea we would have to debate against Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, Professor Frankfort, and a host of others!"

Formal statement of the question is: "Resolved, that Congress should be allowed by a two-thirds majority vote to over-ride a decision of the Supreme Court, declaring an act of Congress unconstitutional."

Affirmative Argument

Main argument of the affirmative was that the constitution was not drawn up as a rigid set of laws to curtail progress of a posterity whose civilization set-up was far in advance to that of the time the document was written.

Alexander said in response to the welcome made to the LeMoyne team by Wayne Richardson. Stanford debate manager, "We have heard about the beauty of the Stanford campus, but this is one of those few times when words fail to describe that beauty."

(The Stanford Daily, Volume 89, Issue 14, 27 February 1936)

There appears to have been some non-decision "controversy," insofar as I can deduce from the point that a decision was expected but none given. Some reader might want to look into that point. Meanwhile, here's one more report, this one on two of the LeMoyne debaters visiting Australia:

"American Debaters: Visit to Canberra"

Three interesting visitors to Canberra will arrive to-day. They are Professor Boris Alexander and Messrs. Gilton and Byas, from LeMoyne College, Tennessee.

Professor Alexander, who is well known in the U.S.A. as a radio commentator on international affairs, is the coach of the two student debaters who have had unusual success in New Zealand and in Australia, where they are now on tour. In Auckland a crowd of 800 attended one of their meetings.

Canberra people will have an opportunity to hear them debate against a Canberra team consisting of Messrs. Speed and Harry at 8 p.m. in the Albert Hall, on Monday next.

The Americans will argue "That the Policy of the U.S.A. of Isolation is Justifiable," and the Canberra team will deny it. Sir Robert Garran will preside.

Messrs. Gilton and Byas are both graduates in Science at LeMoyne College, and have had a distinguished career in debating in America, being members of the first Negro debating team to take part in a national debate in America. All are noted for their ready sense of humour, and they have never failed to keep their audience in hilarious mood by their witty sallies, sometimes at the expense of their opponents, sometimes directed against themselves. Professor Alexander, who is a White Russian by birth, will also have something of interest to say to the meeting.

A charge of one shilling will be made to cover expenses incurred by the Canberra University College Students' Association. The University Association of Canberra is also cooperating.

(The Canberra Times, Saturday, September 17, 1938)

The reference to Alexander as a "White Russian" is not a remark on his pigmentation, but to his politics as an 'anti-red' - "red" being the color symbolic of communism and "white" being the color of the uniforms worn by the anti-Bolsheviks.

Of particular interest to me was the fact that "Professor Alexander . . . is well known in the U.S.A. as a radio commentator on international affairs." He would appear to be a significant somebody or other. Keep in mind that this was before television, during the hey-day of radio. I wonder if Alexander referred on radio to his Salem visit, for my mother added that Alexander had said of his visit that he had been "beaten in chess by a seventeen-year-old Ozark boy." Mom added that Alexander "considered himself good at chess and seemed amused at his loss."

Harlin himself was good at chess, but I bet that in a second match Harlin would have faced a more difficult, more determined opponent.

Harlin Jackson Perryman: 1927-2015

Harlin Jackson Perryman

1927-2015
Shrader Photographs

About a month ago, on May 10th, my brother Shan emailed to let me know that our maternal uncle Harlin had died:

Mom just called to inform me Uncle Harlin died. After lunch he died peacefully in his sleep. He was active to the very end, walking, birding, reading, etc. I knew you would want to know having been closer to him than any of us. He was a remarkable man in many ways.

He was remarkable. A man of many interests, he had a powerful mind to match. In addition to knowing more about law than any man I'd ever met, he was also an amateur expert on wine, birds, and chess, among other things, and he had a professional interest in history:

"French Nationalism and Foreign Policy from September 20, 1792 to January 31, 1793: The Patriotism of the French Leaders and the Policy Followed by the Convention"
Harlin Jackson Perryman
University of Arkansas, 1952
246 pages

He had, in fact, gotten a scholarship for Pennsylvania State University:

Harlan (sic) Perryman, who was a very sharp student, got a good fellowship at Pennsylvania State University.

But he couldn't get along with his adviser, who thought all Southerners were stupid - or treated them that way - so Harlin returned to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where he seems to have gotten his master's degree. He then served a term as an elected member of the Arkansas Legislature, for which the above photograph was made, afterwards returning to Fayetteville for a law degree.

He and I had a number of discussions about history, and he always knew the details better than I did. This was during my time at Berkeley, for he and I lived close enough for me to visit him and Aunt Betty. He worked as a lawyer in San Jose, if I recall, and he was involved in advising the California Democratic Party, which he also served as treasurer. His politics were middle-of-the-road, so far as I could tell. I do recall that he didn't like "crazies," a label that he applied to the emotion-based politics of the left - and of the right, for that matter.

In many ways, he remained a man of the Ozarks, living in California's coastal-range Santa Cruz Mountains and chopping his own firewood. He was enough Cherokee to be recognizably Indian (despite that retouched photo above), and he stood an imposing six feet and three or four inches and looked pretty strong from the physical work he did in chopping wood to keep his home warm, and he believed to some degree in an earlier America's sense of frontier justice. He once told me, "A little violence never hurt anybody." But he was a peaceful man and laughed to show that he wasn't completely serious. He even laughed when I retorted that he was "a professional hillbilly." But he wouldn't have had to work hard at being one, for he retained his Ozark accent all his life.

Although we kept in contact throughout my time in Europe - he and Aunt Betty even visited me when I lived in Tuebingen, Germany - and though I took Sun-Ae to meet him and Betty in 1995, when he and I, along with our spouses, drank an expensive Rothschild red wine to celebrate my doctorate and marriage, we lost contact when my work took me to parts of the world other than Europe. I tried several times to track down his email address, but I could never find one, though I did find this:

Monday February 18[, 2013]. Melody and I had an adult bald eagle at Mather Lake at about 9:30 a.m. It was at first perched, but it began flying around the lake. Apparently it left soon after because we did not see it again until we left at about noon. Harlin Perryman. Sacramento

Melody was his adopted daughter, a daughter from Aunt Betty's first marriage, but I found neither his email address nor hers in my searches. I wish I knew more about him, but I found no obituary. Perhaps this is the closest thing to that. If so, and if others who knew Uncle Harlin wind up here looking for him, then please leave a comment and add what you know.

Meanwhile, Uncle Harlan, rest in peace.

Update: See more here.