| In
Memory of Don Pearson
S A T U R D A Y, D
E C E M B E R
1 2 0 0 7
Donald Carl Pearson
February 17, 1921 — November 21, 2007
While we all knew that "Don" (Barbara's dad)
was dying of cancer, it still came as a tremendous shock when "Pat"
(Barbara's mom) called early the morning before Thanksgiving Day to deliver
the sad news of his passing.
Don was a wonderful man, a loving father and
husband, and his story could easily have been a chapter right out of Tom
Brokaw's The Greatest Generation.
To honor his memory, his eulogy follows, which
provides some great insight into the kind of person he was and the life he
lived.
— A very special thanks to Don's sister Vivian
Ogden for many details of Don's younger years I've included here.
Erik
Don was preceded in death by his
parents, Bernice and Carl Pearson, and his son, Carl William
Pearson.
Don is survived by his wife of
62 years: Laura Lee "Pat" Pearson, their three daughters: Donna Lee
Hanson of Eunice, Louisiana, Barbara Kay (& husband Erik) Thomas of
Boulder, Colorado, Jeanie Marie (& husband Mike) Knowles of Reno,
Nevada, his sister Vivian (& husband Wendall) Ogden of Red Bluff,
California, five grandchildren and one great-grandson.
 Don's
Military Funeral, November 28, 2007
Dear family and friends, we are here today to
say farewell to our beloved husband, brother, father, and friend, Donald
Carl Pearson.
While we all feel a great loss in our lives,
and that this is a time of sadness, it is also a time to celebrate the life
of this wonderful man, a man who lived a full and satisfying life, full of
love, adventure, good times as well as tough times.
Prayer...
Celebrating Don's Life
On February 17, 1921, Don was born to Carl
William Pearson and Bernice May Trenberth at the Los Angeles home of his
grandparents, John and Johanna Trenberth. Shortly after, the family moved to
Santa Barbara where Carl was employed as a tile setter in the construction
of the Santa Barbara Court House and other buildings of note. Don attended
elementary School there before the family moved back to Los Angeles.
At the depth of the Great Depression, 1932,
the family moved to a Gardena one-acre farm. A milk cow, farm birds and a
large vegetable garden were added and became an important part of their food
supply during the last of the Depression and on into World War II.
 Times
were hard during the depression so after high school, Don wanted to help his
family in any way he could so he joined the Civilian Conservation Corp. in
1938 where he fought fires and built bridges for $30 a month. He would send
home $22 of that amount back to his family each month.
Within a week after the Japanese attacked
Pearl Harbor in 1941, Don enlisted in the Army Air Corp. Don felt it was his
duty to serve his country and he didn't hesitate. He would have enlisted the
very day following the attack but the lines were too long so he had to wait.
Don listed his sister Vivian (who is here
today), as a dependent and those funds help pay her tuition at college.
While in the service, Don soon volunteered for
gunnery school and after training was sent to England where he joined the
351st Bomb Group, 510th Squadron. Don was to be a tail gunner on a B-17.
His crew was flying their fifth mission when
flak brought them down over Cologne, Germany on February 22, 1944. The crew
parachuted from their plane and Don landed in a field near Düsseldorf and
ironically, was saved by German soldiers from angry farmers with pitch
forks.
 Don
and his friend (and crewmate) Bill Leach stuck together for most of the next
18 months in various military prison camps around Germany and in Poland.
At one point, Don was left with a man who was
shot in the leg, but there was nobody to help him so Don spent his time
scrounging up wire and cloth and doing what he could to help dress the
wound. Don never did find out what happened to that man in the end.
Of his experiences in Germany, Don said: "I
never thought a person could be so hungry. I had no shoes all the time I was
a POW, and the clothes we had were the ones we came with. I did not see any
medical or dental care in any camp. Breakfast was a pitcher of hot water for
six men. We used it to wash in. I never had a shower until the war was
over."
As Germany collapsed in the spring of 1945 Don
said: "the war went right past them and the tanks came up and knocked down
the gates. What a good sight!! The Army set up a kitchen and started feeding
us. White bread was like angel food cake, but the best thing was the
shower."
Don was honorably discharged on October 8th,
1945. He arrived home still quite thin even after being fed for several
weeks during the return trip and while at the hospital before discharge.
Don Meets Pat
It was in Gardena during the war (when Don was
in Germany) that Laura Lee Patterson (whom we all know as "Pat") met Don
Pearson’s parents because of Don's dog Sutt. Pat complained to a neighbor
lady about Sutt and was told in no uncertain terms that Sutt was “Don
Pearson’s dog” and had free rein of the neighborhood.
As Pat began to get to know the neighborhood,
she kept hearing about this man named Don Pearson who was a POW in Germany.
Pat soon became friends with Don’s family and even befriended his dog Sutt.
When Don was finally liberated and returned home to California, he was still
very thin but more importantly was also alive!
After a formal introduction by his sister
Vivian, Don and Pat started dating. It was love at first site and they
married on February 22, 1946.
 Don
& Pat’s first home as a married couple was in a make-shift apartment over
Carl & Bernice’s home in Gardena. They eventually moved to Imperial Valley
in late 1946 where Don was trained as a butcher. Their first daughter Donna
Lee, was born in Imperial Valley in January of '47.
The three of them then moved back to Gardena
where their son Carl William was born in 1950 and Barbara Kay in 1954. In
'55 the Gardena home was sold for a freeway easement, and they moved to
rural Sunnymead—now known as Moreno Valley—where they had horses, chickens,
lots of cats and other farmhouse animals.
Jeanie Marie was born in 1960 and they stayed
in Sunnymead until 1972 when they moved to Reno where Don and Pat (and
Jeanie) have lived ever since.
Don retired in 1987 after a 40-year career as
a butcher, the same year as their daughter Barbara married Erik Thomas.
Good Times and Bad Times
Well, as life would have it, Don and his
family experienced wonderful times as well as some difficult times over the
years.
One story Don told us a couple of times around
the dinner table when Barbara and I came to visit, was about an old "Banty"
rooster back on the farm in Sunnymead. Don always liked to keep Bantam
chickens, and there was this one tough little rooster who was the king of
the flock and would roost in a lemon tree, king of all he surveyed.
 But
the hens kept laying eggs and as the odds would have it, more roosters were
hatched and at one point a gang of 10 young roosters kicked him out of the
lemon tree! But Don, who always had a big heart for animals—and obviously
rooted for the underdog—felt sorry for the old rooster and decided to make
it right.
Pat made soup out of all 10 of those young
roosters and by that same night, the original old rooster was back in his
perch in the lemon tree, king of all he surveyed.
Don also loved dogs, and had several dogs
since Sutt. There may have been more, but the dogs I remember him talking
about over the years were Blue, Joe, and Chip. But Joe—a yellow lab—was his
all time favorite. Don told me the last time I saw him just a few months ago
that he and Joe bonded instantly. They just loved each other.
350X261.jpg) Don
loved to fish and hunt, and would often go out with his son-in-law Mike
Knowles (who married Jeanie Marie) and over the years they brought back many
game animals. Don would turn over his dining room coffee table that was made
from an old butchers block (Mike and Jeanie have that table today), and he'd
dress it out and package and label all the meat. Barbara and I were often
the glad recipients of venison steaks and other cuts.
But as life would have it, things were not
always so good. Don and Pat's darkest time and greatest loss came at the
tragic death of their son Carl in 1980. He was not quite 30 years old.
In preparation for today, I asked each of you
to share your thoughts about Don, the things you remember most about him,
and any special moments or experiences you may have had with him that you
wanted to share with the family. I'd like to read some of these comments
now:
Donna said:
"I remember him working all the
time. He would work 6 days a week and then work in the yard, on the
house, and on the cars. He did everything himself. The yard had a
natural, well-kept appearance and everything growing in it produced
a lot.
He really took care of his family
and everything around them. He didn't complain and he didn't brag,
and he didn't talk about himself much. There was a lot about him
that I never knew. He had his personal struggles, but he kept them
private. He was very strong, both physically and mentally. He was
kind-hearted toward animals. He couldn't stand to see anything be
hungry or suffer. He was a person with character. He respected his
wife and family, he had high morals, and he was a gentleman."
Barbara put it simply:
"Don loved his wife, his family,
and his animals."
Jeanie had this to share:
"Dad was a good role model and
father, and he taught the value of a good work ethic. But he could
still be scared of a little a tarantula!"
Mike said:
"It was always a lot of fun hunting
and fishing together. Even better when playing cribbage together.
Almost like a second dad the way he treated the kids and me."
Gabe mentioned these special moments with his
grandpa:
- Sleeping on a bear-hide rug
- Fishing at pyramid lake
- Burning out the break pads of his
truck because I forgot to take the emergency break off
- Cribbage (of course)
- Letting the cat on the dinner
table... and not shooting it!
- Wrist watch that he found on the
trip to Germany and gave to me (I still have it)
- Trips to the hills to target shoot
- Walking a couple miles to the
house and eating licorice
- Splitting wood
- Smashing cans with a log
- Having his dog Joe fetch his
slippers
Jess said:
"Don taught us all something
special, whether it was how to play cribbage or how to fish, how to
love and how to forgive. He was not a perfect man, but he loved each
of us in his own special way, as we each love him in our own way.
He was a brave man who had seen his
share of battles, and he always rose to the occasion to conquer
those obstacles whether it was at the POW camp, the house fire, or
the cancer that ended his life."
Rachel said:
"He always made sure that we had a
dollar from playing cribbage (usually one that he won off dad!) and
we were always picking on dad. We had fun with grandpa."
Gina said:
"I remember going fishing at
Pyramid and him being a good grandpa."
Jake said:
"I have many memories of grandpa,
from boyhood to adult. He has always given me someone to admire and
respect, I'd always hoped I'd make him proud of me. I hope that as I
face my own personal trials I can do it with the same honor and
tenaciousness as he did. He taught me a lot; of life, respect and
honor. He will be sorely missed, but never forgotten. I aspire that
one day I may grow to be as great of a man as he was."
And lastly, Pat had this to say:
"We fell in love at first sight,
and it lasted 62 years!" She also said that "Don was a good man and
had a good life. He was proud to serve his country both in the
Conservation Corps and the Army Air Corps. He provided for his
family; was happy with his life; and was not afraid to go."
Barbara has often shared with me little bits
about growing up in Sunnymead, and one common theme was always Don's love
and devotion to his family.
In the Bible, the apostle Paul said this about
love:
If I have not love, I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the
flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. For love is patient, love
is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is
not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps
no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with
the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always
perseveres.
While Don is no longer here in the flesh, he
will always be in our hearts. Because while we still live, Don lives on in
our memories, and knowing this we can accept his passing.
I know we are all relieved that his suffering
from the cancer is at an end, and we are hopeful that he is now in a good
place, and that we'll get to be with him again one day.
Erik
|
SSGT Donald C Pearson
United States Army Air Corps
15 Dec 1941
to 8 Oct 1945
Medals Awarded
The Distinguished Unit Citation
Awarded to units of the Armed
Forces of the United States and allies for extraordinary heroism
in action against an armed enemy on or after 7 December 1941
(the date of the Attack on Pearl Harbor and the start of
American involvement in World War II).
The unit must display such
gallantry, determination, and esprit de corps in accomplishing
its mission under extremely difficult and hazardous conditions
so as to set it apart from and above other units participating
in the same campaign. The degree of heroism required is the
same as that which would warrant award of the Distinguished
Service Cross to an individual.
The Purple Heart
For being wounded in action in any
war or campaign." Thus designated by FDR in 1942, although the
decoration had existed previously. The United States had 671,000
wounded in the Second World War.
Air Medal
For Meritorious Achievement while
Participating in Aerial Flight.
Established 1942. The Eighth Air
Force awarded 442,000 Air Medals in WW2.
One Captain James Hunter, a B-24
pilot with the 491st Bombardment Group, 854th Squadron, earned
an Air Medal, which read in part: "For meritorious achievement
in accomplishing with distinction several aerial operational
missions over enemy occupied Continental Europe. The courage,
coolness and skill displayed by this individual in the face of
determined opposition, materially aided in the successful
completion of these missions. His actions reflect great credit
upon himself and the Armed Forces of the United States."
Prisoner of War Medal
Authorized for all US Military
Personnel who were Taken Prisoner of War during an Armed
Conflict, and who Served Honorably during the Period of
Captivity.
Established 1985. Department of
Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office estimates that
157,700 U.S. servicemen were captured in WW2: Germany, 130,200;
Japan, 27,500; The U.S. Army Air Forces, in the air war against
Germany suffered 51,106 POWs, MIA's, evaders, and internees.
American Campaign Medal
A military decoration of the
United States armed forces which was first created in 1942 by
order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Originally issued as
the “American Theater Ribbon”, the decoration was intended to
recognize those service members who had performed duty in the
American Theater of Operations during the Second World War.
World War II Victory Medal
A decoration of the United States
military which was created by an act of Congress in July 1945.
The decoration commemorates military service during the Second
World War.
European/African/Middle Eastern
Campaign Medal
The EAME Campaign Medal was
awarded to personnel for service within the
European-African-Middle Eastern Theater between 7 December 1941
and 8 November 1945.
Good Conduct Medal
Awarded for exemplary
behavior, efficiency, and fidelity in active Federal Military
service. It is awarded on a selective basis to each soldier who
distinguishes himself from among his/her fellow soldiers by
their exemplary conduct, efficiency, and fidelity throughout a
specified period of continuous enlisted active Federal military
service. |
