Delia W. Perkins

Delia Wood Perkins was born in Tarboro, NC on February 11, 1942, to Fred and Mary Wood. She is married to Rayfield Perkins and together they have six children along with ten grandchildren. She attended W. A. Pattillo High School and graduated from Edgecombe Community College with her GED and Associate Degree. Perkins is well known as a former two term mayor of the Town of Princeville, NC.

She holds a number of honors. Two specific ones are being the keynote speaker at the National Boule of the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. on the day of her induction and receiving from Edgecombe County Entrepreneurs the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award.

She assumed the Mayorship of Princeville when the town was at its lowest ebb — the town’s infrastructure was in disarray and the fiscal controls of the town had been taken over by the State of North Carolina.  She rallied citizens, the state, and a critical mass of town’s people to put the town back on its feet in just ten short months after her inauguration.

She led the Town of Princeville during its most troubling times — immediately after the September 1999 Hurricane Floyd flood which totally destroyed the town.  On September 19, 1999, in the shadows of the flood water, then President Bill Clinton turned to her on the platform and said, “build it back Mayor Perkins and build it back better.”  This she did.

She is a longstanding member of the Eastern Star Baptist Church.  She has served her church in several capacities and has been a beacon on the Usher Board for years.

Leadership Roles & Accomplishments:

• Two term Mayor of the Town of Princeville, NC
• Edgecombe County Health Board
• Edgecombe County Schools Even Start Program
• The National Conference of Black Mayors
• The North Carolina Conference of Black Mayors
• Board of Directors of the North Carolina League of Municipalities
• Recipient of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award
• Gamma Beta Phi Honor Society and Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority

Inducted in 2021