Perry J. Gatliff

Summary

Perry J. Gatliff (1929–1982), son of Thomas C. and Mary Ellen McDonough Gatliff, cared for an orphaned buck fawn in July 1961 and was still fishing Beaver Island’s harbor ice twelve years later, in January 1973. This record merges two article stubs seeded from those separate episodes. It is distinct from Perry Gatliff, a newborn named in the island’s birth notices one month after the fawn story, in August 1961.

History

In July 1961 the Beacon’s sporting news reported that Perry Gatliff was feeding the orphaned buck fawn “Jackie” formula at his home, until a shelter could be erected at Municipal Dock Park; the notice identifies his mother as Mary Gatliff and calls him a good foster parent.¹ Twelve years later, in January 1973, the Beacon’s “Game News” reported him standing by with wigglers and a fishing shanty while harbor ice conditions remained too unstable to fish.² The Holy Cross Cemetery index lists Perry J. Gatliff (1929–1982), child of Thomas C. and Mary Ellen McDonough Gatliff — the same mother, Mary, named in the 1961 fawn story — providing the bridge between the two episodes and the cemetery’s lifespan.³

Significance

The two episodes, twelve years apart, show the same recurring Beaver Island resident across the Beacon’s sporting and community-news columns — a foster-parent role for an orphaned fawn as a young man, and winter perch fishing as an established islander a decade later.

Evidence and limits

The identity bridge rests on the matching mother’s name, Mary (Ellen McDonough) Gatliff, independently given in the 1961 fawn story and the cemetery’s record of Perry J. Gatliff’s parentage, plus the cemetery’s own lifespan (1929–1982). Neither Beacon notice supplies a birth date or full civil identity.

Not the same as Perry Gatliff, a newborn named “Perry Gatliff” in the August 1961 “New Arrivals” column — one month after this man’s fawn story ran, and decades too young to be the same person. That record is kept deliberately separate as a newspaper-only birth notice, most likely a namesake relative (nephew or cousin) rather than a duplicate.

Added 1 August 2026 · revised 5 August 2026. Recent changes