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Pauline Udall Perkinson 1935-2023
Pauline (Pauli) Udall Perkinson, 87, passed away in Mesa, Arizona, on March 23, 2023, surrounded by her 7 children and their spouses.
On May 11, 1935, Pauli was welcomed into this world in Phoenix, Arizona, by her loving parents, Leah Smith and John Hunt Udall, and ten wonderful brothers and sisters. Pauli attended North High School where she loved participating in Student Council. From 1953-1957, she attended Arizona State College (ASU), where she met her true love and future husband, W. Bradford (Brad) Perkinson. She received her bachelor’s degree in elementary education and later taught school at Pomona Elementary in California.
Pauli and Brad celebrated their 63rd anniversary just before Brad’s passing in July 2021. She greatly missed her sweetheart during the last months of her mortal life.
Pauli was an incredible example of Christlike living. She dearly loved her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and was a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Pauli led many to the Savior through her simple and anonymous acts of kindness. She also served in many Church callings throughout her life, including Relief Society President and full-time missionary with her sweetheart in Washington, D.C.
Pauli’s greatest love and desire, however, was to love and serve those who needed her most. She loved to see and spend time with her 7 children, 40 grandchildren, and 86 great grandchildren, all of whom were at the top of her service list.
Pauli is preceded in death by her eternal companion, Brad; her parents and her 5 brothers and 5 sisters. She is survived by her 7 children, John ( Verna), Scott ( Suzy), Lisa Blair (Wendell), Amy Kerr (Todd), David (Suzie), Jenet Knight (Greg), and Julia Williams (Todd); 40 grandchildren; and 86 great grandchildren (with another 4 great grandchildren on the way).
Visitation will be held on Thursday, March 30, 2023, at 6-8 pm at the Citrus Heights Stake Center, located at 2549 N. 32nd Street in Mesa, Arizona. Funeral services will be held the following morning on March 31, 2021, at 11 am at the same location after further visitation from 10-10:45 am. Bunker Mortuary will assist the family with arrangements and services, for which the Perkinson Family is very grateful. The family also expresses special thanks to our wonderful friends at Acoya Assisted Living, Hospice of the West, and Advanced Healthcare. Pauli loved to order flowers from Crismons to send for so many of Life’s occasions.
Arrangements by Bunker’s University Chapel, www.bunkerfuneral.com. Should this obituary appear anywhere but bunkerfuneral.com, please check our website for accurate details and service information.
We are blessed beyond measure to have had the wonderful opportunity to know and love the Perkinson family. Pauli was always cheerful and happy and loved to share her joy with those around her. We are so happy to know that she and Brad are sharing some overdue hugs – what a lovely reunion of love for each other and their Savior. Does it get any better than this? Our love to all of you. Steve, Michelle and D’Ann, Crismon’s Flowers
Being a son of Pauli’s older sister Jan, my first recollection of Aunt Pauli was when she, as a single college student, drove with her parents, John and Leah Udall, to visit us, the Mortensen family, in central California. I was about 8 years old. I vividly remember her putting on a suede jacket and old hat (“props”) then she sang and danced for us “Yosemite Sam” and “I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat”. What a performance – very expressive and talented. In my associations with Aunt Pauli over the years, she always wore a beautiful smile and had a great sense of humor, often subtle. She loved to laugh. When she spoke to you, you felt like you were the only person in the world of importance to her. Very kind and loving. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to visit with her last summer – a whole afternoon. We talked mainly about family and the great heritage we shared. Family was a topic very important to her. I will greatly miss Aunt Pauli. Craig
Aunt Pauli was the kindest, sweetest person on the planet. She loved her family and the church. She was a great conversationalist and had a pleasant, positive personality. She and Uncle Brad raised an incredible posterity. She will be sorely missed by many. Our deepest condolences to the entire family!
Warmth, patience and genuine love were Pauli’s traits. Loved her family dearly and showed it through acts of service and humility. Will be missed by all that knew her.
Pauli was always so loving & kind. She truly loved everyone, & always had that beautiful smile on her face. We met Brad & Pauli Perkinson for the first time, when we moved into their ward & Brad was Bishop (30 years ago). We will forever be grateful for the love they showed us. Our love & prayers to all of the family.
Pauli is the best example of womanhood and honoring her knowledge that she is a daughter of our Heavenly Father. We will dearly miss her! We extend our deepest sympathies to the entire family!
Condolences Pauli was my mother Billie Hiatt’s best friend for many years Pauli brought joy and happiness to our family. She was a blessing when my mom’s health was failing. A truly wonderful woman.
I can’t remember when I didn’t know Sis. Perkinson. She was truly a kind and generous woman. I always knew she knew and loved me. She was like a little bit of heaven in her genuine love for others. I am so grateful I know her. She raised a wonderful family. Brad and Pauli were always concerned with how I was and I am blessed to have had this couple in my life.
My wife Theone and I were saddened at the news that Aunt Pauli had l passed on from her mortal life, but at the same time joyful thinking that she is again with her “Iron Man”, Brad. What a wonderful reunion they must be enjoying together. The sorrow we feel that she has left us must be diminished somewhat by thoughts of how happy they are.
My mother, Ruth, is Pauli’s oldest sister, and while growing up our family traveled to Mom’s beloved Phoenix on many trips to visit her family. My first real memories of Aunt Pauli came in about my 8th year, when mom, me, and my two little sisters, Carol and Jody, spent the summer living in the little house on Virginia Street with our grandparents. At the time Pauli was still living at home, a beautiful young college girl who often became my babysitter. I have fond memories of her catching the bus on 7th Street, with me in tow, to take me to a movie and escape the heat in an airconditioned theatre. I grew to love her as my Aunt Pauli, we even kind of shared the same name, and was always so proud to trail her around downtown Phoenix hand in hand, at times running into girlfriends to whom she would seemingly proudly introduce me as her nephew from Utah. What a treat for me. I remember Pauli as being a such big part of my life those early years, as she has continued to be for the ensuing almost 70 years.
Just how big a part? Well, I have heard Theone on occasion when speaking about me, mention that I am quite deficient in romanticism. I must very sheepishly accept blame for this, as very early in our marriage, just our 2nd night, found us not in some lavish Honeymoon Suite but rather in Phoenix on the first leg of our driving honeymoon, in the spare bedroom of my Aunt Pauli and Uncle Brad, a story she had used to bolster her claim. I have a photo taken in front of their house as we were leaving the next morning, and Theone with a “what was that all about?” look on her face, is next to our car, with 3 little kids, John, Scott and Lisa, standing adoringly next to her. Aunt Pauli, however, as Theone’s introduction to the Udall family proved to be the perfect choice, and she came to love Pauli and Brad as though they were her actual aunt and uncle, which they in effect became. This was a very good thing since she had just recently left all of her family and friends 12,000 miles away in South Africa to come to America and marry me. Thanks Aunt Pauli.
Pauli Perkinson is a great lady as we all know, a wonderful wife, mother, daughter, aunt, friend to many, who will always be remembered for her many fine attributes. But in addition, to me she is and will always be, simply my beloved Aunt Pauli. God Bless You, and I thank you with all my heart. Paul King
Was very sorry to hear of Polli passing we went to High aSchool & Church & kept in touch after i kew all her bro & Sis also cousins on the Udall side
Pauli was an unbelievable example of love, kindness and caring to all! She and her sweet husband, Brad, were the model couple in our Hermosa Groves Ward, always reaching out to whoever it was that was in need. I admired them so much! We will miss you, Pauli, big time as we have missed Brad, but know that both of you are now so happy being together again on the other side of the veil. Our love and condolences to your wonderful family!❤️
Pauli, in her sojourn on earth, was the epitome of righteousness, but always graceful. She was so, so kind hearted, even when she caught you jumping off the patio roof into the pool at her lovely home on 1st Place. I’ll be forever grateful for her kindness to me over the decades that I have known her.
She leaves the earth with a rich legacy of love and beauty!
Pauli exuded, light and love. She was one of the kindest souls I’ve ever met. She taught me a lesson about gratitude that I will never forget. You will be missed Pauli.