Freddie Mae (Perkins) Livesay

Freddie Mae (Perkins) Livesay, 102, passed away at home in Norman, OK on June 11, 2017. Freddie was born in Nicholas County, WV on March 13, 1915, to Rayburn Elmer Perkins and Dorothea Mae Underwood, the second oldest of four girls (Nellie Evelyn, Reona Angeline, and Georgia Ethel, now all deceased).

As a young girl, Freddie lived in Richwood, Prestonia, and Fenwick. Her studies were interrupted during the depression when Freddie’s family couldn’t afford daily train fare from Fenwick into Richwood. She later returned to school and graduated from Richwood High School at age 21 with the Class of 1936.

Freddie began a career in women’s ready-to-wear at Dietz-Spencer Department store in Richwood. She is featured in front of the store in the October picture for the 2004 Early Richwood Calendar. In 1942 she married James William Livesay, son of Dr. James W. Livesay and Bonnie Mae Groves of Leivasy. Freddie took the train from WV to Reno, NV where she met Mr. Livesay and was married. The newly-weds then settled in Ft. Klamath, OR where her new husband had his first job, after graduation from Penn State University, as a forester with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. While living in Richwood, Freddie was a Cherry River Princess and a charter member of Beta Sigma Phi Sorority. She was featured in an August 7, 1974 News Leader article captioned “Richwood Has Attractive Girls.” Freddie was employed as a Bridal Consultant at Lipman Wolfe & Co. in Portland, OR for many years.

After retirement in 1980, she relocated to Norman, OK to live with her daughter and son-in-law, Bonne (Livesay) and Siddiq Karim, loading up her car and driving down the Columbia River Gorge the day before Mt. St. Helens erupted with clouds of smoke and ash in the air. Freddie was active in many university and community women’s groups in Norman and helped care for grandchildren Farooq (Blossom) and Talia (Jaro Lepic) Karim and great-grandsons Zane and Adam Karim.

She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, grandchildren, great-grandsons, and many nieces and nephews who love and admire their “Beautiful Aunt Freddie.”

Burial will be at Willamette National Cemetery in Portland OR with a private family service.

Memorial contributions can be made to the University of Oklahoma Women’s Studies Program in care of the OU Foundation or the Norman Public Library “Friends of the Library.”