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Donald Wyndom Perkins (Age 89)
Passed away on January 11,2021 in Fairfax, VA. Don was born in 1931 in Bryn Mawr, PA to Harold A. Perkins and Florence Mae Wickwire. He attended Edgewood High School in Pittsburgh, PA. He then attended Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH graduating in 1953 with a Master of Science from the Thayer School of Engineering and Tuck School of Business Administration. Following graduation, he served two years active duty in the Army. He resided in the Washington area for over 50 years in Severna Park, Arlington, Alexandria, and the Greenspring Village Retirement Community in Springfield, VA. His engineering career began with his work at Westinghouse Oceanic Division in Pittsburgh, PA and then Annapolis, MD where he was involved in various undersea warfare programs until 1978. Don continued his career at the National Academy of Sciences where he served as the Associate Director of the National Academy of Sciences Marine Board. Don engaged in the development, management and production of committee work regarding maritime studies. He conducted studies relating to oil spill dispersants, development of tanker hulls, beach erosion, and ship collisions with bridges. He was a leader in the development of hull requirements after the Exxon Valdez spill in 1987 until he retired in 1996. Don continued to be active in various activities and hobbies after retirement. He served as Treasurer for the Washington Map Society from 1999-2009, an organization supporting map collecting, and the history, science and art of cartography. He was a member of The Society for the History of Discoveries, serving as treasurer from 2008-2014. Don participated in Dartmouth Alumni activities and enjoyed spending summers in New Hampshire. He had a passion for travel, hiking and biking extensively in Italy, France and England. He visited New Zealand, Alaska, Turkey, Iceland, Spain and Cuba among other destinations. As a member of the National Presbyterian church, he served as a volunteer to teach English in Thailand through a Presbyterian Mission. He maintained an interest in the outdoors, enjoying scuba diving and camping. Don was active in many clubs and groups at Greenspring including Great Decisions, a foreign affairs speaker program. Don was preceded in death by his first wife, Mary Elizabeth Sullivan Perkins in 1982 and his son, Colin W. Perkins in 2016. He married Alice Rechlin Perkins in 1997 and she passed away in 2002. Don is survived by daughter-in-law, Elaine Perkins; Alice's children, Linda Rechlin, Thomas Rechlin and Paul Rechlin; extended family, longtime companion Mindy Thomas and close friends. A private interment will be held at National Memorial Park in Falls Church, VA.
Published in The Washington Post on Jan. 17, 2021.
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Leigh Lockwood
Portolan issue 100 (Winter 2017) provided the following member spotlight:
DONALD PERKINS: Cartographic Interests: Maps of areas where I have traveled and know the terrain from hiking, for example Western Pennsylvania and Central Italy (Tuscany). I have a 1759 London map and the account of General Braddock’s ill-fated attempt to capture Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh); it describes the Braddock’s route along the Laurel Highlands. A related map from 1756 shows the boundaries of the Colony of Pennsylvania and the Penn family acquisitions and Indian agreements. My deFer 1702 map of the Church Lands of Central Italy and Tuscany shows many towns and areas where I have hiked. Virginia, my home state, is shown on my1862 West and Johnson map; this is one of the last full-state maps (i.e. including now West Virginia) issued by the Confederacy. A treasure inherited from my late wife, Alice Rechlin Perkins, is the Plan of the City of New York in North American, published in 1776; this map notes the routes of the British and American forces going to and from the 1775 Battle of Long Island. Professional background: Dartmouth College BA, Tuck School of Business and Thayer School of Engineering (MBA & Engineering) at Dartmouth. Westinghouse Oceanic Division and National Academies (National Academy of Engineering, Marine Board). Comments: In my early years I collected maps of all sorts, mostly petroleum company road maps, but my map-related work, in later years, was with the Marine Board of the National Academies. Some projects involved engineering studies about the Arctic coasts and national coastline changes; this work required both shoreline and inland data, sometimes involving historical cartography. The greatest influence on my cartographic interests was my wife who I met during an annual meeting of the WMS—an incredibly remote probability, but a wonderful miracle for us. She had a doctorate in Geography (University of Michigan) and was “The Geographer” at the National Geographic Society before we were married. Her interests in geographic and surface physical geology influenced our life and travels, including observations from the air of western U.S. terrain and glaciers in Alaska. [Editor Emeritus Note: Don’s wife, Alice Theodora Merten Rechlin Perkins, died in 2002 – see her obituary in Portolan issue 54.]
Leigh Lockwood
Mindy Thomas, a long-time friend of Don’s, has just advised that Don Perkins passed away on January 11, 2021 from symptoms of COVID. He was healthy just a week before his death, and had been rigorously adhering to safety measures. He became increasingly ill the week of January 4, and taken that week to INOVA Fairfax Hospital in Fairfax VA. He declined heroic measures such as a ventilator and rather chose palliative care. He passed peacefully with his daughter-in-law and Mindy near.
Born in 1930 and a member of the WMS since 1994, Don served the Society as a Director from 1998-1999 and 2008-2010. He was WMS Treasurer from 1999-2008.
Donald Dahmann
He was someone for whom the line from the Book of Matthew 25:23 might well apply as an epitaph -
"Well done, good and faithful servant."
Godspeed Don Perkins. You are missed, Don Dahmann.