Early Life and Education
Perry was born in Haskell, Texas. She is the daughter of family physician Joe Eltidge Thigpen and homemaker Beunis Ratliff Thigpen. She has three siblings: Joseph (an attorney), Peggy, and Emily. She is a graduate of Haskell High School. She spent her first year of college at Texas Tech University, but because Texas Tech did not have a nursing program at the time, she switched to West Texas State University, where she received a Bachelor's degree in nursing in 1974. She then obtained a Master of Science degree in Nursing from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. She has worked in the nursing profession for more than 17 years, working in surgery, pediatrics, intensive care, administration, and teaching and as a consultant. Although the Perry tax returns indicate Anita Perry worked as a nurse and took in less than $8,000 a year between 1987 and 1990, upon her husband's election as Agriculture Commissioner, she left nursing.
Read more about this topic: Anita Thigpen Perry
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