Ann Brooke (Jody) Perkins Lewis ‘66

St. Margaret’s School is saddened by the passing of alumna and former English faculty member Ann Brooke (Jody) Perkins Lewis, born September 2, 1948 and passed away May 3, 2023. A memorial service will be held on May 13 at 11 a.m. at St. John’s Episcopal, and following the service will be a reception at the Brockenbrough House.

After her husband retired and they moved to Tappahannock, Jody began teaching English at St. Margaret’s in 1995, having taught English at Collegiate during the years they lived in Richmond. Jody had grown up at St. Margaret’s, where her mother, an alum, was a much-loved English teacher here for many years. Jody was a St. Margaret’s graduate in the class of 1966.

Jody lived a life in full as a wife, a mother, and a wonderful friend. She loved the “rivah,” living by it and swimming and sailing in it and on it. Above all, she was an amazing English teacher. She was an incredibly insightful reader and a beautiful writer. By far, she was the best of all of us in the English department. E.M. Forster would have been impressed with her ability in the classroom to “connect the prose and the passion,” exalting both. She loved all the great writers: Faulkner, Virginia Woolf, Dostoevsky, Fitzgerald, and of course, the poets from Gerard Manly Hopkins to Robert Frost. She could light up a classroom, and in doing so, during the 17 years she taught here, she kindled a fire in the minds of her students that will never be extinguished.