Capitol Briefs | Judge Carol Perry passes

WINDOW ROCK

Navajo Nation leaders and the legal community on March 3 offered condolences to the family of former District Court Judge Carol Perry, who passed away on March 1 in Albuquerque at the age of 70.

Perry was born in October 1951 in San Francisco. She was Ta’neeszahnii, born for ‘Áshįįhi.

She was appointed as a probationary judge in 2005 and the Navajo Nation Council confirmed her as a district court judge in 2007.

Perry presided at the Tuba City District Court, Ramah District Court, and for more than nine years at the Window Rock District Court. She retired in October 2018.

A St. Michael’s High graduate, she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Arizona and a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School.

She began her career as an aide to Arizona Sen. Dennis DeConcini, working in Phoenix and Washington, and helped start the extension campus for Prescott College in Window Rock.

According to her family, she was a member of the Diné Medicine Men’s Association.

Eleanor Shirley, an associate justice on the Navajo Nation Supreme Court, said, “Judge Perry was a dedicated jurist who had a caring heart and was a compassionate and hard-working individual. She spent countless hours presiding over cases, helping litigants and people in the community.

“She was dedicated to protecting the sovereignty of the Navajo Nation,” she said, “and she contributed significantly to the Navajo Nation justice system in deciding many complex cases that came through the Window Rock Court.”

President Jonathan Nez said, “She was very hard-working and dedicated to our Navajo judicial system and to protecting our sovereignty and way of life.”

Seth Damon, speaker of the Council, said, “Judge Perry presided over several historic cases that continue to impact our lives and the Navajo legal system today. Her steadfast leadership is honored and the decades of service she led in the courtroom to protect Navajo sovereignty is remembered.”

Carol Perry is survived by her partner-in-life, Stanley Perry; cousin-brothers Virgil Kirk Jr. and Kenneth Kirk; cousin-sisters Gloria Moore, Joan Kirk Gilmore and Geraldine Binettnee-Kirk.

On behalf of the family, Joan Kirk Gilmore said, “The family of Carol K. Perry thanks you for your kind words and thoughts during this most difficult time.”

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