Chandler Ame;ia Ricks Perry, daughter of the late Solomon Ricks and Graacie Hamlin Ricks, was born on June 26, 1926 in Sedley, Virginia. She transitiioned to her heavenly home on April 1, 2007. Chandler was the second of eight children; four siblings have preceded her in death. Chandler was reared in a strong Christian home. It was a home that instilled in her the value of faith that she would call upon throughout her life. In June 1945, Chandler graduated from Frederick Douglass Senior High School. Without financial provisions for college she enrolled in the Tailoring course at Carver Vocational-Technical Senior High School. In June 1947, she graduated with a second high school diploma. With these employable skills, she was able to earn the necessaary tuition money. By May 1952, Chandler had completed all course requirements in Home Ecomomics and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Morgan State College. She continued her studies with post graduate course at University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University. In September 1954 Chandler's dream and life's ambition to become a sewing teacher finally came to fruition. She was appointed to become the first Industrial Sewing teacher at Carver Vocational-Technical Senior High School her alma mater. after 31 rewarding years of sharing in the growth and development of the tender young minds entrusted to her case, she retired on June 30, 1985. At Carver's 1987 graduation ceremonies, the Chandler Ricks Perry Awards was established to be perpetual remembrance of her dedication and services to the school. Chandler joined the Historic leaden hall Baptist Church in the early 1940's. During her 64 plus years membership at Leadenhall, she was a very active participate with various auxilliaries and ministries. These included: Deaconess Board, Mass Choir, Senior Choir, Male Chorus Boosters, Missionaries, Ware Life Line, Senior Courtesy Ministry, Sisterhood, Monday Community Eat Together Progaram, and Wednesday Night Bible Class. In the Church Sunday School she served as a teacher as well as Superintendent, just to name a few! In addition to her church involvement, she worked dilegently in her community. The affiliations were: The American Red Cross, The Urban League, The NAACP, The Harford Seniors Citizens Center and the Thrifty Savings Club. She remained close with many of her childhood friends and was am active member of the Sociables Club of Baltimore, Columbia, and DC. In 1968, Chandler married Rev. Dr. Oberlin W. Perry, Sr. and they had a loving marriage. Upon Rev. Perry, becoming the pastor of first Baptist Church of Fairfield in 1981, Chandler graciously accepted the role of First Lady and served until his retirement from Fairfield in 1987; at that time, they returned to Leadenhall. Even after leaving Fairfield, Chandler continued to support their programs and ministries. In her role as First Lady, she became very active with the Inderdenominational Ministers' Wives and Ministers' Widows Alliance, Maryland Association of Ministers' Wives and Ministers' Widows Fellowship. Upon his passing in 1991, she continued to hold several offices with these Alliances. Chandler was blessed with many gifts and talents which she was always willing to share. She was a very skilled seamstress, always selecting the compicated patterns of the couture styles as they were more challenging for her. Her outfits were finished with such precision they were a work of art. We would now call hera Texile Artist. Everyone clamored for one of her creations, she unselfinshly sewed and shared. She will be fondly remembered for her custom made tote bags, and change purses. With extraordinary talents as a ''First Rate Pastry Chef'', she was often requested to bake many of her delicious pound cakes and cookies. She could feed the ''masses'' with what her family called ''thin silver slices'' of 7-Up cake or Chocolate Chip-Nut Cinnamon Sour Cream cake. It would not be at fair to list just one of the variety of baked cookies for which she was famous, but we all had at least one favorite. The most requested entrees were notlimited to : Corned Beef Brisket, Beef AuJus, Seasoned Roassted Potatoes, and Carb casserole. She enjoyed travel and was always prepared for international trips and made many by first class. Her excursions included the Holy Land, a special trek to Africa with her family, Europe, the Caribbean. Without fail, the fourth weekend in August she always found her at the Hamlin Family Homecoming in Wakefield, Virginia. She took many weekends and cross country trips and cruises with her family. Now she leaves to celebrate her life: two sisters Cleo R. Alxander and Doris R. harvin; one brother, Wendell Ricks; two brothers-in-law, Roosevelt Brown, Sr. and Adger Harvin, Jr.; two sisters-in-law, Ruth C. Ricks and Joyce M. Ricks; the ''Top 10'' nieces and nephews, special cousins Selma Hines, Ernestine and Harriet Hamlin; her extended family in Virginia; cousins, nieces, nephews; god-daughters, Lisa Burnett Sear and Faye Taylor Ebron. Godson Dantae Hudson. She was a surrogaste godmother to dozens at Leadenhall Baptist Church and First Baptist Church of Fairfield.