The police Highway Patrol on Saturday performed a drive-by happy birthday salute to Kathy Perpetua, the “Rosary Lady,” outside her Water’s Edge home.
Lt. Calvin White, of Highway Patrol, also presented Perpetua with a dozen red roses.
Perpetua, who turned 79, has been making rosaries for people for more than 20 years. Recipients have been soldiers, firefighters, police officers and academy graduates, the elderly, handicapped, the sick and all kinds of others.
The rosaries, packaged with a holy card, are for people of all religious denominations.
Perpetua began making blue rosaries for police officers and pink rosaries for their wives and mothers in 2007 following the killing of a fellow St. Jerome parishioner, Chuck Cassidy. Students at St. Jerome helped her, and then-Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey later visited the school to show his appreciation.
Perpetua, whose husband Tony is a retired fireman, used to sell rosaries at craft shows, with proceeds going to the firefighters and paramedics Local 22 widows’ fund.
Perpetua is a member of the FOP Lodge 5 Auxiliary, a group that assists police officers in various ways, including making comfort bags for injured officers. ••
