Perry joined the army at the oubreak of WWII at the age of 16 and served overseas in the Royal Canadian Engineers from 1943-46. He received his BA from the University of British Columbia in 1949 and subsequently attended art school in London, England from 1953-55. He taught junior high school for many years. He began exhibiting in 1958 in Europe and exhibited extensively in Canada including at the Vancouver Art Gallery and in several outdoor sculpture exhibitions. His work won first prize in the Burnaby Centennial Outdoor Sculpture Show in 1958 and in the Vancouver Centennial Outdoor Sculpture Show in 1967.