Boone Funeral Home
P.O. Box 69
Leland, MS 38756
662-626-7171
FAX 662-686-4472
Funeral services for Perrin Holmes Grissom, Sr., age 92, of Leland will be 11:00 a.m. Monday, July 16 at Leland United Methodist Church. He died Saturday, July 14 at his home. Burial will follow in the Leland-Stoneville Cemetery. Services are under the direction of Boone Funeral Home, Leland.
Perrin was born September 5, 1919 at Summerland, MS, the son of William Monroe and Cordie Bell Rogers Grissom. He graduated from Summerland High School and attended Jones Junior College at Ellisville, MS. He earned a B.S. and Masters Degree at Mississippi State University. He was employed as a Soil Scientist with the Soil Conservation Service until being drafted by the U. S. Army in 1941. Perrin married Lela Rose Selby from Yazoo City on August 10, 1941 at the Lexington Methodist Church in Lexington, MS. On November 4, 1941 he was inducted into the Army as a private. After a short period in the Quartermaster Corps at Fort Dix, NJ, he entered Camp Lee, Virginia Officers Training School. He graduated in February, 1942. The next 31 months were spent as a Supply Officer on New Caledonia and Cebu in the Phillippines. He was honorably discharged from the Army as Captain in 1945.
Returning to civil life he was employed by the Delta Branch Experiment Station in Stoneville as a research Agronomist in charge of soils, fertilizers, and irrigation studies. At the Delta Branch Experiment Station he was associated with the introduction of anhydrous ammonia as a fertilizer and conducted research that resulted in substantial change in fertilizer practices of the Delta. In 1964 he chose to leave the Experiment Station to start farming which he continued until his retirement in 1982.
Perrin was a member of the Leland Lions Club, serving as past President and past District Governor of Mississippi Lions and was a leader in developing the Mississippi Lions All State Band. In 2003 he was inducted into the Mississippi Lions Hall of Fame, and in 2008 he was honored as a Melvin Jones Fellow, Lions International. He served as Boy Scout Leader and Little League Baseball Coach. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Leland Chamber of Commerce, the Leland High School PTA, and the High School Band Auxiliary. Mr. Grissom also served as Alderman and Mayor of the city of Leland and in the Mississippi House of Representatives. In 2003 he was named Alumnus of the Year by the Washington County Chapter of Mississippi State University. He was a member of the Leland United Methodist Church.
Survivors include his wife, Lela Selby Grissom of Leland; 2 daughters, Virginia Gordon and Linda Campbell Wright (Charles) all of Jackson, MS; a son, Perrin Holmes Grissom, Jr. (Donna) of Leland; 3 sisters, Marilyn Meadows, Billye Harrison and Catherine Gregg; a granddaughter, Luci Henry (Brian) of Olive Branch, MS; and 4 great-grandsons, Bronson, Logan, Nicholas, and Hayes Henry.