Portland, Maine; Newton, Massachusetts; Tuckahoe, New York Early Life

1936-1956

Perdita Huston was born on May 2, 1936 in Portland, Maine, to Thomas Augustus Huston (grandson of the founder of the baking company T.A. Huston & Co.) and Marion “Mimi” Althea Brooks Huston. The family, which also included Perdita’s older sister, Maryanne, lived in Auburn, Maine, but moved to Portland soon after Perdita’s birth. 

For the first 9 years of her formal education, Perdita attended Portland Public Schools—Roosevelt School for kindergarten, subprimary, and 1st grade; Nathan Clifford School on Falmouth Street from 2nd-5th grades, again Roosevelt School in 6th grade, and Lincoln Junior High School on Stevens Avenue for 7th grade.  

By 1950, her father was transferred and the family moved to Newton, Massachusetts. After finishing the eighth grade in Newton, Perdita returned to Maine to attend Gould Academy, a private college-preparatory day and boarding school in Bethel, for the 9th and 10th grades. An active member of the Class of 1954, Perdita was on the staff of the 1952 Academy Herald, a singer in the Varsity Glee Club, and a reporter for the newspaper, The Blue and Gold.

When the family was transferred to Tuckahoe, New York, she enrolled in the Bronxville High School for the 11th grade and Tuckahoe High School for the 12th. There she participated in intramural basketball and Glee Club, was news editor of the monthly Tigers Roar school newspaper, was secretary of the Teen Canteen and of the Honor Society, won Miss Eastchester 1954, and was voted “Best Personality” by her classmates.  After graduation, she spent the academic year 1954-55 at the University of Colorado in Boulder where she began to lay the groundwork for her future career by taking French, English and sociology courses. Troubled by McCarthyism and its repressive spirit, she left the United States in 1956 for France before finishing college.