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Writer's picturePerry Pride

A History of Business in Perry as seen through the life of Georgie Stebbins

Updated: Aug 19, 2021


 

Grand opening of newest Perry History Pocket Museum exhibit to be held at First State Bank & Trust on Sept. 11 in conjunction with 2021 Perry Pride Fall Festival


Georgie Stebbins has worked in Perry, Kansas since 1946. She and her husband Merrill L. M.L. “Bood” Stebbins owned and operated Stebbins Brothers Grocery in downtown Perry. (The nickname Bood comes from the German derived phrase booder boy, meaning butter boy.) Their grocery store was located at the corner of Front St. and Elm St., the current location of the First Missionary Baptist Church of Perry. The Stebbins also operated a milk delivery route which included milking the cows each morning before going to to work. They are a well-known local couple, and Georgie knows almost anyone who has been around this area for a while!


Bood was an auctioneer and ran Stebbins Auction Services in Perry for 54 years with Georgie clerking along side of him. He also worked as a custodian and school bus driver for Perry-Lecompton Unified School District 343 for 45 years.



When the Stebbins sold their grocery store, Georgie went to work at The Bank of Perry. She was there on the day of 1951 flood and helped secure important documents. Georgie's daughter Treva Bunce currently works at First State Bank & Trust in Perry.


Georgie was important in the formation of the Civic Study Club in 1951, which still exists to this day. It is a ladies service club, which helps schools and children, and other causes.


In the 1950s she started collecting African violets as a hobby, eventually hybridizing - creating new ones - herself and even sold some at consignment auctions. She has displayed her plants at many events and flower shows. Georgie is well-known in area flower clubs and was highlighted in the Winter 2020 edition of Jayhawk Area Agency on Aging, Inc.'s Amazing Aging publication.


Plan to attend the grand opening of the newest Perry History Pocket Museum exhibit on Sept. 11 in the lobby of First State Bank & Trust, 402 Plaza Drive, Perry, KS 66073. Perry Pride will host an open house with refreshments from 9-11 a.m. During the open house Georgie will share her knowledge of past Perry businesses as well as some of her African violets.



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