On March 3, 2019, our beloved Richard John Pearson, surrounded by his family, left us to be in heaven to be with our daughter Shannon. He was born Dec. 3, 1945 in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada to Bettina and Peter Pearson. He moved to the Seattle area in 1961. He is survived by his wife Midge, his son Todd Baumgartner (Gina) and daughters Shelly Sergeant (Gabriel), Sara McLean and Herlinda Pointer. He is also survived by grandchildren Tim, Brandon, Joshua and Lauren Baumgartner, Joshua Bowen, Nicolas Sergeant, Gabriella Urrutia – Sergeant, Alysun and Dustin McLean; and four great-grandchildren, Trysten, Alayziah, Isaiah and Alayiah.

He went to work for Western Electric/AT&T/ Lucent Technologies from 1965 to 1998. He retired to Whidbey Island, where he started a second career at Ace Hardware as a gas technician repairing and selling gas fireplaces and stoves until 2016.

Rich was a devoted grandfather, he loved to take the grandchildren on adventures on the many trails on Whidbey Island. They would be gone for hours and come home starving. He would swim and fish with them in Goss Lake, never tiring from the untangling of fishing lines. The children, all grown now, have wonderful memories of all that and many pancake breakfasts that he liked to cook. He was a remarkable husband. When asked if he had any hobbies, he would reply “his wife was his only hobby.” He woke up in the morning like a ray of sunshine, nearly always up early and ready take on the day.

He had a bucket list of the places he wanted to travel. The only place that he missed was visiting Australia. His favorite memories were of Israel, where he was baptized in the Jordan River and Greece, Turkey and Egypt. All in all, he visited at least 40 counties and frequently thanked God for the opportunity to experience God’s creations.

A memorial service will be held on March 28, 2019 at 2 p.m. at the Christian Life Center, 1832 Scott Road, Freeland, WA. Reception to follow.