Flerida Pierson

“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.” Norman Mclean, A River Runs Through It. We would like to borrow Norman Mclean’s thoughts and look under some of the rocks in the life of Flérida Pierson. She was orphaned as a young girl and raised by her maternal grandparents Juan and Margarita Urias on a farm in Sinaloa, México named “La Primavera”-The Spring (season). From her grandparents and her extended family, she received love, caring, guidance, learned the virtues of hard work and developed the personal operating system that were the basis of her being. In 1949, she married Joe Pierson and by 1961 they were the proud parents of one girl and four boys. Her first three youngsters were boys, Flérida wanted a daughter. So, she and Joe kept trying. As the fates ordained, her prayers were answered with the birth of their fourth child, a baby girl who is named after her maternal grandmother. The baby in the family is named after her grandfather. For those of you that have, or, are thinking of having five children in this span of time let me just say, it is a challenge! Flérida loved babies, many times while shopping, or, in public, she would she see a little one and fawn over the baby cooing, appreciating its innocence and cuteness. Her only daughter would admonish her to not do this, usually, to no avail. Flérida loved her grandkids and was lucky enough to get to know and love her great grandkids, as well. When she arrived here to the U. S. of A, she did not speak English. By the time she left us, she had pretty much learned the language “on the job” and spoke “American” pretty darn good. Those of us who have tried to learn a foreign language as an adult can appreciate the difficulty of this task. Despite her best efforts at correct pronunciation, Flérida could not outrun her native Spanish language in which “e” is pronounced as “i”. When speaking “American”, this is typically not an issue. However, this pronunciation becomes problematic when buying sheets. In order to avoid the issue of mispronouncing the word when buying sheets, she would describe them to the salesperson as: “those white things that you put on a bed to sleep on.” She was a widow for a number of years, during this time she lived independently, travelled as a member of the Friendship Force International, and devoted time to her family and friends, her crafts and her intellect. When she was sitting in her recliner at home, she was usually reading something and loved reading “National Geographic”. She was also known to watch an occasional “telenovela” (Mexican soap opera). When Father Time caught up with her and she could no longer do things on her own, her only daughter took her under her wing and served as her caregiver. For this we are eternally grateful. As Flérida got on in years she would often provide her own take on life: “It’s hell to getting old, and, damn inconvenient, too!” Descriptions of her as: Mother, daughter, sister, spouse, wonderful friend are inadequate to tell us who the woman known as Flérida Pierson was… Is. After she was made, the mold was broken, and, there are no more like her. She was generous in spirit, loving and was kind and giving by nature. Flérida was frugal, creative, industrious and always ready with a joke. She was knitting up until near the time she died. When we would walk with her in the neighborhood in her later years she would tell us a short poem in Spanish: “Si siembras manzanillo, albahaca, y romero, siempre tendras dinero.” If you plant olives, basil and rosemary, you will always have money. She loved plants. The world lost a rare gem when Flérida Pierson passed away on July 10, 2019. We love you, Mom.