Charles William Pearson

Published 5:22 pm Monday, November 7, 2011

Charles William Pearson Sr., 85, died at Four Season’s Elizabeth House in Hendersonville, N.C.

Charlie was raised in Saluda and attended Saluda School. He joined the U.S. Navy and served honorably during the final days of the war in and around Japan. He later worked for the Southern Railway as a fireman aboard steam engines on the lines from Greenville, S.C., to Murphy, N.C.

In 1951 Charlie joined the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, where he served for 32 years as a trooper in Iredell, Madison, Henderson and Polk counties. He retired and spent his retirement years farming and gardening at his  home in Melrose.

He was a member of the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Saluda for many years and was a 32nd degree Mason of the Saluda Lodge. He later became a member of the Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall in Lynn, where he worshiped for the remainder of his life. He was much loved and honored by his family and friends and will be greatly missed.

He is survived by his three children, Charles W. Pearson Jr. and his wife, Dawn S. Pearson, of Saluda; Deborah Pearson Fisher and husband, Billy R. Fisher, of Saluda and Lisa Todd Pearson of Hendersonville, N.C. He is also survived by the mother of his children, Barbara Todd Pearson; three grandchildren, Morgan Pearson Martin of Baltimore, Md., Charles W. Pearson III of Saluda and David G. Pearson of Moyock, N.C. He is also survived by his one remaining sister, Vera Bishop of Greenville, S.C.

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011 in the McFarland Funeral Chapel, Tryon, with John Lassiter officiating. Burial will be in the Saluda City Cemetery.

The family will receive friends Tuesday from 1 – 1:45 p.m. prior to the service in the McFarland Funeral Chapel.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Four Seasons Compassion for Life, 571 South Allen Rd., Flat Rock, N.C. 28731.

An online guest register may be signed at www.mcfarlandfuneralchapel.com.

McFarland Funeral Chapel, Tryon.