Irvan Perez - Early Life

Early Life

Perez was born on December 29, 1923. He was a native of Delacroix Island, Louisiana, where he grew up with both his nuclear and extended family. He spoke very little English until he began attending grade school. His grandfather, Mimiro Perez, lost over $9,000 when the banks went out of business during the Great Depression. Perez's father, Serafin Perez, taught him how to sing the traditional décimas and to carve decoy ducks. Perez's carvings were used in hunting, as well as art. Serafin Perez lost his home, as well as eighty decoys, when Hurricane Betsy devastated Louisiana in 1965.

When World War II broke out, Perez dropped out of high school and enlisted in the United States Army. He served in the Pacific during the war and returned to southern Louisiana after it ended. He found work at the Kaiser Aluminum factory in Chalmette, Louisiana, from 1950 to 1975. He later earned his high school general equivalency degree.