Photos of Mother Perry throughout the last few years.
"Mother" Annie Mae Perry, center, laughs as she bounces a Happy Birthday balloon up and down in the air after her godson Jack Smith, left, of Orlando, gave it to her during her 98th birthday party at her home in North Naples.
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Elizabeth Williams, 65, left, and Mother Annie Mae Perry, 91, both of Naples, take part in the 2002 Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade on Fifth Avenue South. "This day means to me we are celebrating and remembering Martin Luther King Jr.," says Williams.
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Mother Annie Mae Perry waves to people on the sides of Fifth Avenue South during the 2005 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. parade in downtown Naples. Mother Perry, 94, moved to Naples in 1947 and says she has been involved in the civil rights movement "from start to finish" and that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King "was a man of peace, love and happiness."
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"Mother" Annie Mae Perry, attends Triumph Church in Naples on a recent Sunday. "She's an inspiration," said Anthony Denson, current Collier NAACP president, who has known her since he was a grade school student at her daycare center in the 1960s.
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"Mother" Annie Mae Perry, center, is greeted by Anthony Denson, while she attends Triumph Church in Naples on a recent Sunday. "She's an inspiration," said Denson, who is the current Collier NAACP president, and has known her since he was a grade school student at her daycare center in the 1960s.
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"Mother" Annie Mae Perry, attends Triumph Church in Naples on a recent Sunday. "She's an inspiration," said Anthony Denson, current Collier NAACP president, who has known her since he was a grade school student at her daycare center in the 1960s.
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"Mother" Anne Mae Perry, a matriarch in the African American Community in Naples, waves to the crowd as she rides in Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade on Fifth Avenue South on Monday morning in Naples.
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Irene Williams, left, holds hands with the Rev. Warren Adkins and "Mother" Annie Mae Perry during a prayer before Mother Perry leads a walk from Triumph Church on Fifth Avenue North to Anthony Park, where a candlelight vigil was held in honor of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks on Monday afternoon in Naples. More than 200 people attended the event that featured the processional march to the Martin Luther King Jr. tree, speeches and a reenactment of the day Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus.
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The matriarch — Mother Annie Mae Perry, an institution in Naples' African-American community, turned 95 years old on Feb. 18. The next day there was a celebration. Prayer, food and laughter. As guests walk through her home, they receive a history lesson. A history of her family. Five living generations totaling more than 100 people. "I had five children. I think I've got but 15 grandchildren," Perry says, but admitting she loses count with the greats, the great-greats, and the great-great-greats. Her walls speak of the souls of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy. Plaques tell stories of how she has given her life to the community. And God is everywhere. An Our Father prayer, the Ten Commandments — little reminders of everything she holds dear. A framed newspaper article from June 7, 1977, commends her for her 25 years of dedication as the only licensed midwife in Collier County, where she delivered 514 babies of all races. "I loved them the same," she says now. "I felt like they all were mine." Published February 28, 2005
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