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Perry Inhofe was remembered by almost a thousand friends and family at the First Presbyterian Church on Thursday, 14 NOV 13, at 1400. The scene was quite befitting the second son of U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe. TCSO and the news media were both present on Boston Ave.
The venue was full house. Dr. James Miller, presiding pastor, spoke eloquently. Several major political functionaries were present to include newly elected Tulsa Mayor, the Honorable Dewey Bartlett, County Commission Karen Keith, and Republicans of Tulsa County Chair Mike McCutcheon.
The extended family and friends surrounded Senator Inhofe, who was obviously quite stricken with major grief over the loss of a very close son. Perry learned and loved flying from the Senator.
Perry went down in a aviation emergency at TUL. He piloted a Mitsubishi MU-2. He had the presence of mind to divert the stricken aircraft away from homes, preventing further destruction. Perry was the lone deceased.
Nancy Rader Inhofe, wife, and two sons, were in attendance at both the Christian and Jewish service, later in the afternoon, at the B'nai Emunah.
Stephen Frank, Chuck Tegeler, Holly Brock, and Julie Heath were present. Brother Jim Inhofe, sisters Molly and Katy Inhofe received well-wishers and mourners. Perry accomplished much in a very short amount of time. He was well thought of by all. Only the good die young. The rest overstay. Please send condolences to the family.
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Matt Melone
In high school Earth Science class, with Mr. Sanderson teaching, Perry & I sat next to each other. After a Spring Break trip with his family to Padre Island, he brought me back a special gift of "Mr. Zogg's Sex Wax". If you don't know what this is, it's a little round hockey puck sized, cellophane wrapped, container of surfboard wax! We laughed about it ... and I stuck it in my locker. You might remember we had random locker checks back then. So, after one of these locker checks, Mr. Sanderson interrupted class and, with the security guard there, he called me out in the hall. They took me over to my locker and Mr. Sanderson handed me the "sex wax" and told me he was "disappointed" that I would bring that kind of thing to school and would have to go explain it to the office. I just about fell over, but I managed to explain the story to him, told him Perry gave it to me, and showed him that it was only surfboard wax. He finally chuckled and sent me back into class, where I took my seat next to Perry and told him the story. Perry laughed so hard, he fell off his chair and onto the floor. After we graduated, I would occasionally run into Perry around town and we always had a big laugh about the sex wax! Perry was always kind and friendly to everbody. He got his driver's license before I did and he always gave me a ride to school if he saw that I was walking .... He turned out to be one of the best hand surgeons in Tulsa and always took time out of his work day to visit with me if I had a legal case involving a hand injury. Rest in peace, my friend.