METHUEN — Hundreds of family members, friends, city employees, and state and local dignitaries filled St. Monica Parish on Monday to say goodbye to Mayor Neil Perry.
Perry, 66, died Sept. 21 at Lawrence General Hospital. He served as mayor from 2020 after 40 years in the private sector as an educator in Methuen and then three decades working for Raytheon. He was in his second term as mayor when he died. Perry had battled kidney disease.
A state trooper played bagpipes outside the church as Perry’s funeral began.
Perry’s three sons, Colin, Matthew and Sean Perry, were among the nine pallbearers along with Methuen Chief of Police Scott McNamara and Fire Chief Tim Sheehy.
Perry was remembered for his mayoral duties and resiliency as a pillar of strength, but foremost as a family man.
“‘For everyone else, this is a funeral for the mayor,’” the Rev. Patrick Armano said Perry’s brother Bill Perry told him last week, “‘For us, this is a funeral of someone we loved and someone who loved us.’”
“‘You only have two things in this life, your name and your worth,” Colin Perry said his father would tell him.
As he looked around the church, Colin Perry said being “the mayor” was the greatest job his dad ever had and he got to sit back and watch him make a difference these last few years. But he said Perry’s “worth” was as a loving father who was always there for his children.
Perry’s dedication to Methuen also rang through as people recalled his character and his urge to put others before himself, even as his health failed.
“As a lifelong resident, he wore his love for the city on his sleeve,” Methuen public health nurse Karen Ferullo said.
She spoke about how she first met Perry in 2019 when he was running for office and how his enthusiasm to make Methuen a better place was his top priority. Perry looked to “right the wrongs that he and so many citizens were seeing at the time,” Ferullo said.
From personnel matters to helping the city’s most vulnerable residents, Perry prided himself in making the best decisions for Methuen, she said. Some of his greatest accomplishments were keeping Holy Family Hospital open and securing the future of the Searles Estate.
“He pushed beyond his comfort to meet the needs of others and the city before his own,” Armano said.
While he was known as mayor to the community, Perry was also a father who lived for his family. His three sons echoed that sentiment in their eulogies. They talked about how he was there to provide a solution to any problem, whether it was how to get rid of a stain or to finish a last-minute school project.
All three sons said the 2002 movie “Signs,” a family favorite, related to their father’s outlook on life, reassuring his boys that everything would be all right during tough times.
Colin Perry said moments can sometimes be symbolic and there are signs all around, which he felt in a Father’s Day card he meant to give to his dad. He found the card on his desk only an hour before hearing his father died.
“Trust me, you’re going to be OK, when have I ever lied to you?” Sean Perry said his father told him through the panes of glass at an ice rink when he was unsure of a new hockey position.
Matthew Perry suffered from asthma as a child and remembered his father’s calming presence to help him get through one particular attack.
The son quoted the movie, referencing the childhood incident to how it now applies to looking for air in grief after his father’s death.
“‘Don’t be afraid, the air is coming. Believe,’” Matthew Perry said.
After the funeral service, a police motorcade escorted the mayor’s body on a ride past City Hall, the police station and the fire station before heading to the cemetery.