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Dean Allen Perryman born March 26, 1962, Kessler Air Force Base, Mississippi, died July 2, 2022. He is preceded in death by his beloved Dad, Sam Parks Parish Jr., beloved Grandparents, Clyde William Barnard, Jr. and Ruth Allen Barnard, known to Dean as Mimi and Popeye. Sam Parks Parish Sr. and Kathryn Dillard Parish, known to Dean as Nanny and Gaggy. Julian Perryman and Martha Wood Perryman, known to Dean as Pappy and Nanny. A very special nephew, Andrew Thompson. Also, by his Father George Carder Perryman and Stepmother Dollye Perryman. Also waiting for Dean were 2 spoiled, fat puppies Elvis and Jackson. He is survived by his loving wife, Joy Tilley Perryman Glencoe, Alabama, his treasured Mother, Joan Barnard Parish, Santa Rosa, Florida, sisters Ashley Parish, Santa Rosa, Florida, Andrea Parish, Santa Rosa, Florida, Kelly Parish Holladay (Jay), Santa Rosa, Florida. His Father and Mother-in-law, Lauil and Faye Thompson, Southside, Alabama. Brothers-in- law, Gregg Thompson (Candi) Gadsden, Alabama and Chris Thompson (Kathy), Gadsden, Alabama. Sister-in-law, Joan Tilley Coker (Lamar), Southside, Alabama. Nieces and Nephews, Morgan White Cornelius (Dylan), Rainbow City, Alabama, Jacob Coker, Birmingham, Alabama, Brinley Thompson, Gadsden, Alabama, Peyton Coker, Southside, Alabama, Brooklynn Thompson, Gadsden, Alabama, Emma Thompson, Gadsden, Alabama. Great niece and nephew, Bryson and Addie Kate Cornelius, Rainbow City, Alabama. A host of Aunts and Uncles and cousins from both sides of his family and a veritable mob of friends from around the globe, who still cannot believe he is gone.
Dean graduated in 1980 from DuPont High School and was forever a mighty, mighty Bulldog. He went on to attend the University of Mississippi and after having so much fun doing that in the early 1980s, he thought he would do it again in the early 1990s, after the Dean let him back in. He earned his Bachleor’s Degree in English Literature from the University of Mississippi in 1996, a day Dean, the Dean, and his Daddy Sam thought might never some. It is an unsubstantiated rumor that his wife wrote his last paper on the plane back from Hawaii after their honeymoon.
Dean took his English degree and like most parlayed that into a food and beverage career. He loved working in bars and restaurants. He was at his best talking to strangers and at the end of the night you were calling him Deano and proclaiming him your best friend. Unless of course you didn’t want to pay your tab and wanted to fight. Then you just might find yourself on the sidewalk, down a flight of stairs with Dean still smiling and waving from the top.
After graduation and his wedding to Joy, the Perrypeople as he dubbed them, moved from Oxford, Mississippi back to Nashville, Tennessee where Dean had grown up. He declared himself retired from the food and beverage game. Bartending was a young man’s sport he used to say. Following in his hero, Sam Parish’s footsteps, he went into sales. Not to say, that a foray back into a kitchen here and there didn’t happen. If bartending is a young man’s sport, sales can be a fickle world and sometimes you just have to step back and fingertip a tray full of drinks through a crowded Italian restaurant.
Through the years Dean worked for Horizon Sales, Dell Computer, where he won many awards and made lifelong friends, Comcast, where he narrowly escaped with his life and made very few friends outside the office. At the time of his death, he was working for Service Source, a job he loved and was damn good at, he will be missed by so many colleagues across the country.
Dean loved his family, his wife, music, books, dogs, good food, theatre, laughing and playing with babies. As long as those babies went somewhere else when he was done. His smile lit up a city block and his generous heart helped light up many a city block literally because he would not pass a panhandler with a
“need money for beer” sign without helping them out. He also would buy them a sandwich and leave them with an admonition to “rock on, brother”.
Dean was the clear embodiment of what it meant to live a life fully. His absence will forever be felt. In the coming days, whenever a KISS or Van Halen song comes on, turn it to 11 and rock out! And never, ever stop loving your people, Dean would want it that way.
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