PEARSON, John "Ray" Raymond 1918-2010
PEARSON, MORROW, BIERIE, LEWIS, FRENCH, BROWN
Posted By: S. Bell
Date: 4/1/2011 at 18:00:59
[Waterloo Courier, Wednesday, October 20, 2010]
John "Ray" Raymond Pearson died Sunday, Oct. 17, 2010, at the Cedar Valley Hospice Home.
He was born July 11, 1918, in rural Tama County, son of Thomas and Emma Morrow Pearson. He married Genevieve Theresa Bierie of Waterloo on Oct. 11, 1947.
Mr. Pearson grew up on farms near Hudson and graduated from Hudson High School. He built a crystal radio set when in elementary school and was fascinated for the rest of his life with amateur radio. He played cornet in a popular local dance band after high school. He was first employed with White Dairy, but enlisted in the U.S. Navy shortly after Pearl Harbor. He did basic training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station and was quartered at Navy Pier in Chicago. He never forgot how the icy winter winds off Lake Michigan swept through their flimsy barracks and also made marching on the pier miserable.
He served with the Navy as a radioman in World War II and the Korean War, sailing the seas from the South Pacific north to Adak, Alaska. He served 30 years with the Navy Reserve as an instructor, and attained the rank of Senior Chief Petty Officer.
Mr. Pearson was employed for 40 years as a wholesale route supervisor, first for the Carnation Milk Company, and after 1971, Swiss Valley Farms.
He was the patriarch of a family including two sons, John R. (Lynn) Pearson of Surprise, Ariz., and Michael Patrick (Peggy) Pearson of Cedar Rapids; two daughters, Patricia Ann (Richard) Lewis of Chicago and Susan Kay Pearson of Waterloo; former daughter-in-law, Deb Pearson of rural Brighten; five grandchildren, Casey Young, Zachary Pearson, Joshua Pearson, Kate Pearson and Aric Pearson; and three great-grandchildren, Genevieve Pearson, Lily Young and Julia Pearson. He is also survived by a brother-in-law, Donald Brown of Waverly, and two sisters-in law, Maxine Pearson of Hudson and Margaret Bierie French of Lakeview, Ark.
He was preceded in death by a brother, Kenneth Pearson, and a sister, Virginia Brown.
During Ray and Genevieve’s courtship, she was the envy of her co-workers when he picked her up at the John Deere office in his 1936 black Packard convertible. She was the love of his life, passing away on Sept. 14, 1995.
He was an avid collector of antiques and Waterloo and Carnation memorabilia, loved working in his rose garden and was amazingly handy around the house. He could fix or make just about anything, and was a perfectionist in all that he did. His work ethic was something to be truly admired.
At the age of 70, he had a speaking part in the Iowa-filmed movie, "Zadar! Cow From Hell." As part of a family project in the early 1980s he researched the history of the Highland neighborhood, resulting in its listing in the National Register of Historic Places. He was a proud Highlander, and was active on the Highland Neighborhood Association Board for many years.
John was a member of Queen of Peace Parish, the Waterloo Elks Club and the Northeast Iowa Amateur Radio Club.
Services will be 10 a.m. Thursday at Queen of Peace Catholic Church, with burial at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Waterloo. Full military rites will be conducted by the Waterloo and Evansdale AMVETS Posts 19 and 31. Flag folding will be done by the Iowa Army Honor Guard. Public visitation will be from 4 until 7 p.m. today at Hagarty-Waychoff-Grarup Funeral Service on South Street, where there will be a 5 p.m. vigil.
Memorials may be made to the Cedar Valley Hospice, the Alzheimer’s Association or The Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum.
Senior Chief Pearson, radio call sign WOIZH, you will be sorely missed.
Black Hawk Obituaries maintained by Karen De Groote.
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