I guess I spoke too soon. Following Gero's advice I added the SetEnv lines to my httpd.conf and that enables Apache/mod_perl to start up. I can do a printenv and that tells me that it is indeed Apache with mod_perl. Guess what... a short while later when I try to hit the webserver it just hangs... no error message in the error_log. Just hangs. Nothing. The browser says there was a connection failure, and of course, Apache is not running anymore.
This should not be so. But it is. So, my request for help with making Apache/mod_perl work is reinstated. Many tia, pk/
