Family or friend, if you knew Bill, you knew him as a storyteller, a funny guy, and an incredible salesman. He lived a life woven of stories, and to spend time with him was to either become a character, or an audience member.
It was quite a life that he led, so his stories were very entertaining. He lived in a castle (the Beatty Street Armoury), had elephants in his basement when the circus came to town, trained for the priesthood (obviously that didn’t quite work out), learned to drive a tank (as a reservist), and drove everywhere in BC, as a salesman and manager, during the late 50's to early 70's. He drank to excess and then stopped drinking almost overnight. He played football on the Montreal Alouettes farm team and was offered a professional position, but decided against it. He was, however, an avid athlete. Bill always had a contact, if you needed something.
Bill’s career in business started in the equipment trade, working with Terry Machinery on Powell St. as a salesman. His success with Terry Machinery, led him to positions with the company in Montreal and then Toronto, but severe winters brought Bill, his first wife, Ann, and their family back to the Vancouver area. He moved on to one of his former distributors, Challenger equipment. In the late 70s, then Bill, his brother, Rick, and his brother-in-law, Pete Howes, set up Pearson Industries, where they were responsible for bringing the Duraflex ‘Cal 2-40’ skateboard into Western Canada.
He and Ann had six kids together—Susan, Mary, Bob, Steven and Jimmy-Joe (Michael died as an infant). After his first marriage ended, he married Donna, and adopted Brook.
After Pearson Industries ended—a victim of the economic downturn of the time— he went on to work for Neon Products, one of Jimmy Pattison’s companies, as sales - manager. He returned, towards the end of his career, to work independently and in partnership, with Donna, as a business management consultant.
Like all of us, Bill made a lot of mistakes,but how he responded to those mistakes - by never stopping looking forward - was his defining feature.
One of his heroes was the great football coach, Vince Lombardi, who said, “Once a man has made a commitment to a way of life, he puts the greatest strength in the world behind him. It’s something we call heart power. Once a man has made this commitment, nothing will stop him short of success.”
Bill Pearson exemplified these words, with the help of his Lord, and those of us who knew and loved him; owe him an enormous debt for that example.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18