Mary Anita Thigpen Perry (born May 5, 1952) is an American nurse who was the longest-serving
First Lady of Texas, being in that role from 2000 to 2015. She is married to former Texas Governor
Rick Perry
James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 and as the 47th governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015. Perry also ran unsuccessfully for the Republi ...
.
As First Lady of Texas, she had been an active advocate for nursing and other health care issues.
The Anita Thigpen Perry Endowment at the
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio focuses on nutrition, cardiovascular disease, health education, and early childhood development.
In 2008, the Anita Thigpen Perry School of Nursing at
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center was renamed in her honor.
Early life and education
Perry was born in
Haskell, Texas. She is the youngest daughter of family physician Joseph Eltidge Thigpen (1920–2013), a native of
Bay Springs, Mississippi, and homemaker Beunis Fay Ratliff Thigpen, originally from Haskell. Her parents met in
Tyler Tyler may refer to:
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* John Tyler, 10th president of the United ...
, where Beunis was visiting relatives. Her father had a distinguished flight record in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
and earned several medals, including the
Bronze Star. He also flew his own plane and was known for making house calls long after the practice ceased to be the norm. Her paternal grandfather was also a doctor and also named Joseph Thigpen. She is named for a paternal aunt, Anita Thigpen Yelverton (1918–1999). She had three siblings: Joseph Emmitt Thigpen (1945–2013), an attorney in Austin who is a former county attorney and former district attorney), Peggy Hairgrove, and Emily Solis. Like Rick, she is a graduate of
Haskell High School
Haskell () is a general-purpose, statically-typed, purely functional programming language with type inference and lazy evaluation. Designed for teaching, research and industrial applications, Haskell has pioneered a number of programming lang ...
. She spent her first year of college at
Texas Tech University, but because they did not have a nursing program at the time, she switched to
West Texas State University in
Canyon, where she received a bachelor's degree in nursing in 1974. She then obtained a
Master of Science
A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast ...
degree in nursing from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
She worked in the nursing profession for more than 17 years, including surgery, pediatrics, intensive care, administration, and teaching
and as a consultant.
Although the Perry tax returns indicate she worked as a nurse and took in less than $8,000 a year between 1987 and 1990, upon Rick's election as Texas Agriculture Commissioner, she left nursing.
First Lady of Texas
Perry became
First Lady of Texas in 2000 when Rick became governor after the resignation of
President-elect George W. Bush. He previously served for two years as
lieutenant governor.
In October 2000, she and Rick hosted the first Texas Conference for Women
which became an annual event. The conference addresses such issues as professional development, health care, and personal growth.
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center renamed its nursing school in Perry's honor on August 22, 2008, and two nursing endowments are also set up in her name: the Anita Thigpen Perry Nursing Excellence Scholarship at West Texas A&M University and the Anita Thigpen Perry Endowment at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
, ''Lampasas Dispatch Record'', March 27, 2009.
2012 Presidential election
Rick announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination
Presidential primaries have been held in the United States since 1912 to nominate the Republican presidential candidate.
1912
This was the first time that candidates were chosen through primaries. President William Taft ran to become the nomi ...
for President of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...
in the 2012 presidential election
This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.
January
*3–4 January: E ...
on August 13, 2011, in Charleston, South Carolina.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, Anita Thigpen
1952 births
Living people
People from Haskell, Texas
Texas Republicans
First Ladies and Gentlemen of Texas
People from Bay Springs, Mississippi
American women nurses
21st-century American women