A tribute to Frank Perrin - GN publicity man

Frank Perrin addressing the GN Cascade Division Reunion on September 13, 1995

Frank Perrin passed away on February 22, 2014, in Lacey, Washington, at the age of 96.

This blog post about Frank Perrin is a personal tribute to a man I knew only a little bit. I first met him in 1995, and although he lived for several years in Lacey, Washington, in the same retirement community as my own parents, I failed to go see him more than a couple of times. Visits with my parents are always far too short, and I regret never finding more time to break away to say hello to Frank. I did not interview him beyond the few brief chats that I had with him.

 

This is not an obituary – I did not know him nearly well enough to write something like that with any authority. Rather, what you read here consists of a few snippets of things I recall about him and fragments of the few conversations we had. I’ve also located a few relevant sources on the internet to fill in a bit more detail, although I have not yet located more than a death notice (in the Daily Olympian newspaper) since his passing – certainly not an obituary.

In 1995, the annual reunion of the Cascade Division GN veterans extended a welcome to any interested GN supporters and enthusiasts, specifically any interested members of the Great Northern Railway Historical Society (GNRHS). I accepted that invitation and attended the event in Everett, Washington. I brought along my rather primitive (by today’s digital standards) Hi-8 video camera and managed to record Frank’s presentation on his days in the service of the Great Northern Railway.

Franklin F. “Frank” Perrin was born about 1917 or 1918 to Lona and Neva Perrin. His brothers John and Douglas predeceased him, as did his wife Jeanne, who passed away in 2006. I believe Frank and Jeanne had children, and grandchildren, but I did not get to know him well enough to report about them at all.

When my Reference Sheet about Winold Reiss was published by GNRHS in June, 1996, Frank was kind enough to take the time to write me a letter and congratulate me on the article. I certainly took this as high praise, coming from a man who worked in publicity and advertising for the GN while Reiss was still living, and while Reiss’s work was still being prominently utilized in GN advertising. It meant a lot to me that Frank enjoyed my article, and that he wrote to tell me that.

Frank served our country in the U.S. Navy during WWII. Upon his discharge in 1945 (shortly after V-J Day), Frank signed up with the Great Northern Railway in the position of “Public Relations Representative.” A graduate of the University of Minnesota’s School of Journalism, Frank honed his skills in photography in the Navy, then applied those skills photographing nearly every significant event along the GN – specifically in the Cascade Division – for a period of about ten years.

Describing his career with the GN, Frank once stated “my job took me into every department and virtually every operating area of the railroad.” He was issued a pass when he first took the job, which granted him access to locomotives and cabooses to travel and conduct his work. He described his reaction to this fact as feeling like a kid in a candy shop.

 

When the Hedrich Blessing photography company of Chicago was hired by the GN to produce a large portfolio of publicity photos, they involved one of their younger photographers, Bob Harr. Frank told me once that Bob Harr always liked to have people in his photographs (or this may have been a preference of either GN or Hedrich Blessing management). When you see some of the iconic GN publicity photos of the 1950’s and 1960’s, you immediately recognize this style. Perhaps there is a cowboy on horseback, waving at the locomotive crew from a ridge above the railroad grade. There might be a fly-fisherman casting in a stream as the gleaming Empire Builder rolls by. In a couple of commonly used photos of the Empire Builder skirting Puget Sound, two men are seen just off shore in a small skiff. In many of those photos, Frank Perrin was on hand to supervise the shoot, and on more than one occasion filled in as a “warm body” to appear in the image. He told me he was one of the two men in the skiff in the shots along Puget Sound. The little boat the men are in has “Picnic Point” painted on its side. The photo was likely taken just south of Picnic Point, which is located between Edmonds and Mukilteo, Washington. With two dome cars and a great dome car visible in the image, this photo was probably taken in 1956 when the dome cars were introduced.

Great Northern publicity photo by Hedrich-Blessing, circa 1956, taken near Picnic Point south of Mukilteo. Frank Perrin is one of the two men in the small boat.

Frank was transferred to St. Paul in about 1956, where he worked with Charles W. “Dinty” Moore. When Moore retired as Executive Assistant of Public Relations for the GN on July 1, 1968, Frank Perrin was promoted into that position to replace him. Pat Stafford then took Frank’s old job.

During his presentation at the Cascade Division Reunion in 1995, Frank thoughtfully acknowledged the contributions of all of the GN veterans in attendance. Speaking to the audience, he said “if there’s one thing I learned in more than 30 years in PR, it’s that most of you have some pretty solid ideas of your own about public relations. In one way or another, you’ve all helped shape the Great Northern’s public image. It is to your credit that the GN was, and still is, regarded as one of America’s great railroads.”

 

Later in his talk, Frank also extended special appreciation for others who have done their share to help ensure that the history and the tradition of the Great Northern Railway live on. Please view to video clip below to see and hear Frank in a message that could have been recorded today, rather than nearly 20 years ago. He may have been addressing you.