Madeleine Martha Perry

Madeleine Martha Perry, our beloved Cookie, age 79, passed away peacefully on Nov. 22, 2025, surrounded by her family, her friends, and the countless handmade crafts that filled her home with warmth. The world was gentler, kinder, and far more joyful for having her in it. 

A lifelong Islander, born and raised in Edgartown, her early years were spent as a telephone operator and working at the A&P. When she became a mother, making a home for her family became her everything.

Born with a heart big enough to hold generations, she was the extraordinary matriarch of our family — an unwavering center of gravity who nurtured with equal parts tenderness and strength.

She embodied everything a mother, sister, grandmother, great-grandmother, and aunt should be: steady, patient, loving, wise, and always ready with a warm hug or a gentle nudge in the right direction. As a grandmother and great-grandmother, she was magic. She made everyone feel singularly cherished, celebrated every milestone as if it were a miracle, and showed us, by example, how to live with grace.

Her seafood lasagna, Christmas cookies, and crafts were legendary — made with the kind of love you could taste and feel — and every family gathering was a better place under her watch.

Whether it was a holiday meal, a simple Tuesday dinner, or a spontaneous road trip, she infused every moment with enthusiasm, joy, curiosity, and just a hint of mischief. She had an unmatched ability to transform the ordinary into something unforgettable.

A lifelong lover of sunsets, she would pause whatever she was doing to admire the sky’s shifting colors. She treasured nature, drives around the Island to look for deer, the fair, and the fireworks, the craft aisle of any shop, and the call of loons across quiet water. She found joy in new places and peace in familiar ones. She loved crabbing at Great Pond, seafood boils, and a good margarita with salt on the rim. Her door was always open, and there was always something delicious to eat on the stove. A devoted rockhound, one of her favorite things to do was find rocks and beach glass for her rock garden and crafts. She believed adventures came in all sizes — some measured in miles, others in laughs — and she sought them out right up to her final days. She lived life fully, openly, eagerly, and with a gratitude that inspired everyone blessed enough to know her.

Wholesome and kind, she was nonetheless tough as nails when it came to protecting the people she loved. In her presence, you felt safe. In her stories, you felt connected. In her laughter, you felt home.

Cookie leaves behind a family that adored her: the love of her life, her husband of 56 years, Alfred Perry; her son Eric and daughter-in-law Brenda; her brother William Arthur Gazaille and his love Rachel Self; her sister Yvonne Burnham and brother-in-law Robert Burnham; her grandsons, Stephen Perry and his wife Whitney Perry, and Raymond Perry and his partner Melissa Swansey; her great-grandchildren, Natalie, Lena, and Aurora; and her many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her brothers Donald Gazaille and David Gazaille.

While our hearts are heavy, we take comfort in knowing she has simply traveled ahead — perhaps watching a sunset, perhaps finding a new adventure — still keeping an eye on us, still loving us fiercely. She was an angel on earth to her very last day, and now, with that lifetime of practice, we know she will be using her wings to shield us all.

Her legacy is love. Her memory is a treasure. And her spirit will remain with us always.

A celebration of life will be planned for her birthday in May of 2026.