Noted Perry factory owner and philanthropist Dallas “Pete” VanKirk of Perry has been selected by the Perry Historic Preservation Commission and Hometown Heritage as the 2018 honoree for the Soumas Court Wall of Witnesses, according to a statement released Friday morning by the sponsors.
VanKirk’s many donations to the Perry community included the founding endowment of the Des Moines Area Community College Perry VanKirk Career Academy in 2010 and the family’s recent $350,000 donation toward the renovation of Dewey Field at Perry High School.
VanKirk, who died in 2016, moved to Perry in 1965 to work as plant manager at Progressive Foundry, and he bought the factory in 1980. He was a devoted family man and a volunteer for Perry Little League and a coach for the Perry High School football team.
The Wall of Witnesses is an ongoing collaboration between Hometown Heritage and the Perry Historic Preservation Commission, with the commission choosing the recipients.
Since resuming additions to the Soumas Court’s collection of notable figures from Perry history, the partnership has honored Mike Kanealy in 2016, Charles Joy in 2016 and Jim Walstrom in 2017.
According to the commission’s call for nominations, “The Wall of Witnesses recognizes those who have gone before us and stand as witnesses to our care of the community and those who set the course both in the present and in the future.”
A ceramic relief of VanKirk by Newton sculptor Rick Stewart will be dedicated Thursday, Sept. 27.
