Honoring Perrin Delorey: The Sequel

Yesterday, “06880” posted a powerful speech from Monday’s Staples Tuition Grants ceremony. Philip Sullivan remembered his cousin, Perrin Delorey.

The Greens Farms Elementary School 4th grader died in an automobile accident in 2018. He would have joined Philip in graduating from Staples High this month. Philip helped lead an effort to create a scholarship in his cousin’s name.

Perrin’s father, James Delorey, also spoke movingly about Perrin’s life and legacy. James said:

I am so grateful to be here with my wife Dr. Angela Ryan, our 2 beautiful daughters, Perrin’s little sisters, Mireille and Elodie, and our families. Thank you have having us.

To those of you who didn’t know our son, Perrin was a thoughtful young man with a great future ahead of him. Angela and I talk about him all the time, and Mireille and Elodie do too. He truly is present in our family of 5. On our way here, Mireille and Elodie were talking about looking into Perrin’s blue eyes!

Perrin Delorey’s sisters, with a photo of their brother. 

You’re all at a huge moment in your lives, and in ours too. We know Perrin should be graduating from Staples right now – or, at least, doing great things in his senior internship.

All of Perrin’s friends are at the end of their high school careers, and many of them are here today, making plans for career, public service, university.

It has both difficult and wonderful to see all of your accomplishments these last eight years – performing in school plays, excelling at athletics, becoming astonishingly good baseball players, hockey players, making the most beautiful music, volunteering in our community and making the life of this community even richer, climbing mountains, becoming Eagle Scouts, becoming adults.

You’re all doing such an amazing job at all of these, and we love to see it happening.

I’m here tonight because Perrin’s classmates, led by his “identical cousin” Philip, have created the Perrin Ryan Delorey Do Your Best Award, a Staples Tuition Grant that – because of the generosity of so many at the 3-on-3 basketball tournament, at the Skate for Perrin at Longshore, at the Perrin Delorey Memorial Cup hockey game, or responding to our outreach, or to our generous coverage in “06880” — the award will be given in perpetuity to help students pursue their dreams of higher education.

Perpetuity is a long time, and we are so grateful for every one at Staples Tuition Grants who made this possible: Joan Gillman, Aiko Nose, Kara and Philip Sullivan, everyone who donated.

James Delorey

I was kindly asked for my thoughts about criteria – what do we want this award to represent. I think Jeff Brill of Westport Little League really got it right with the Perrin Ryan Delorey Sportsmanship Award, presented not to the “best” player, but to the player who works the hardest to improve and help their teammates.

We are so inspired by all the recipients of this award. This occasion makes me think forward about the continued adventures of Perrin’s friends and peers as they enter adulthood.

What will you teach us? Where will you take us? What will you teach others? What kind of families will you build? How many people will you help? Who will you love? What kind of lives will you make?

We had all these questions and great expectations for Perrin. Now have them for his little sisters, and, honest, we have them for all of you!

Perrin Delorey, at Yale Bowl.

We love watching his cousins, classmates and friends grow up. We are so proud of you as you accomplish great things, and we exult in you becoming who you are. We can’t help but wonder what kind of person Perrin would be today, what would he be interested in, and what great new things he would be teaching us.

I have a poster here of our last photo of Perrin as a Cub Scout. It’s the most grown up he looks in any photo, and it’s the one that is easiest to imagine him looking like as a high school senior.

It’s a photo from our annual end-of-year pack picnic at Compo Beach, just a week before he died. Mireille is going to this same picnic in a few days.

The last event of the picnic – of the Scouting year – is the great tug of war. All the photos are amazing. Determined smiles on every Cub Scout. Pure joy on the faces of the parents cheering them on.

Perrin is so handsome in this photo. He just looks so strong and confident. I’ve seen the same looks on your faces as we have watched you grow up these last eight years.

In this Cub Scout tug of war photo, it’s clear, Perrin is playing the game right, doing his best, making a difference for his team, pulling as hard as he can. What a bright future that boy had.

What a bright future you all have.

I am so excited for all of you. Have fun at college, learn something from everyone you meet. Be kind and do your best to make their experience an excellent one, too. You have an amazing future, and you’re going to make a difference in other people’s lives.

So now, and as you go on your amazing adventures, we ask you to do this from time to time: Take a deep breath, say your friend Perrin’s name out loud — “Perrin” — and do your best to help someone else’s dreams come true.

I love you. We love you. Thank you.

(For more information on Staples Tuition Grants — including how to donate to the Perry Ryan Delorey Do Your Best Award, and others — click here.)