Bynum Perkins, 91, long-time Atlanta pharmacist, passed away on March 18, 2019 at home in Dunwoody.
Bynum, known to his customers as “Doc” or “Doctor Perkins”, was born in Banks County, Georgia on October 25, 1927, the twelfth of thirteen children. He grew up in Cornelia, Georgia. After graduating from high school in Cornelia, he served in the United States Army as a pharmacist technician at Fort Eustis, Virginia. After concluding his military service, he returned to Georgia and completed a degree at the Southern School of Pharmacy (now Mercer University School of Pharmacy). He worked in several local Atlanta pharmacies during the late 1940s and the 1950s.
In 1959, he married Barbara Norred, a young schoolteacher who lived in his apartment building in Midtown, and they resided in the Atlanta area thereafter, raising their family. In 1961, Bynum opened his own pharmacy, Perkins Pharmacy, at 1504 Peachtree Street. His drugstore was an old-fashioned Drug Store with a soda fountain and folks from all walks of life who came in for conversation. Many lamented the closing of the soda fountain in 1970, but Bynum’s customers were loyal and kept coming to his store. In 1988, he relocated the pharmacy to the 999 Peachtree Building, and later closed the store for good in 1997. He was one of the few people who truly looked forward to going to work every day, meeting new people and catching up with customers.
In retirement, Bynum enjoyed playing golf, primarily at the 9-hole courses at Candler Park and College Park, where he would meet and play with people from different backgrounds. He also worked part-time at drug stores in Georgia and North Carolina, substituting for pharmacists who were on extended leave. Bynum was a Mason and member of the Atlanta Masonic Lodge #59 F&AM, a Scottish Rite 32 Degree Mason and member of the Atlanta Temple, and a Shriner and member of the Yaarab Temple.
Bynum is predeceased by his wife Barbara, who passed away in June of last year, his parents, Vance M. and Sallie Duckett Perkins, and all of his twelve brothers and sisters: Serena Turk, John Perkins, Young Perkins, Louise Perkins, Rachel Perkins, Margie Perkins, Thomas B. Perkins, Elzora O’Connell, Robert Perkins, Abb D. Pekins, Dixie Perkins, and Swenson Perkins.
He is survived by his six children: daughter, Ann Norred Perkins of Birmingham, Alabama; his sons, Lee Bynum Perkins of Atlanta (Betsy), Thomas Duckett Perkins of Houston, Texas (Kathy), Joseph Watters Perkins of Atlanta, Georgia, Philip Robert Perkins (Daniela) of Dunwoody, Georgia, and William Garnett Perkins of Smyrna, Georgia. He also is survived by his grandchildren: Anna Gaillard Perkins, James “Jay” Bynum Perkins, and Isabella Maria Ronchetti Perkins, along with several nieces and nephews.
Funeral services will be held at 4:00 pm on Saturday, March 23, 2019, at Whitfield Funeral Home, South Chapel, Baldwin, Georgia, with Rev. Gene Todd officiating. Interment will follow in Harmony Baptist Church Cemetery.
The family will receive friends from 2:30 pm until the funeral hour on Saturday, March 23, 2019, the day of the service, at the funeral home.
In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the Glenwood Autism & Behavioral Health Center, 150 Glenwood Lane, Birmingham, Alabama 35242 or https://glenwood.org/donate.
Those wishing to express online condolences to the family may do so by visiting www.whitfieldfuneralhomes.com.
Arrangements are in the care of Whitfield Funeral Homes & Crematory, South Chapel, 1370 Industrial Boulevard, Baldwin, Georgia.
