The photo of a painting above comes to Perfect Duluth Day via Dean M. Brickson, who wondered why there was no information online about the artist J. W. Perry.

But before the question hit PDD, Brickson had already found the answer: J. W. Perry is June W. Perry of Alpena, Michigan. She was 81 years old when The Alpina News published a feature about her in 2019. The article notes Perry taught school in Duluth and Superior before retiring to Alpena in 2003. The tail end of her career was at Lester Park Elementary School. Her husband, Pat Labadie, is a Great Lakes marine archaeologist and historian who retired in 2000 after more than 25 years as director of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Canal Park Museum.

Here is the original inquiry from Dean, which explains the origin of his curiousity:

I have this painting by J.W. Perry that my father got for me at a Duluth Boys & Girls Club fundraising auction 30 some years ago. It coincided with the port workers strike (in the 80s?). In addition, the Jeno’s plant is still there (like in the last Gatlin picture) you posted. It’s like this artist doesn’t exist, nothing online.

The “last Gatlin picture” Dean refers to is a recent PDD Facebook photo banner, shown below.

The aerial photo is circa the 1970s and shot by Wayne Gatlin. It’s from the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Kathryn A. Martin Library Archives and Special Collections.