Wilbur Pearson

Wilbur Pearson

Hattiesburg

Wilbur Buckner Pearson, age 97, died Tuesday October 11, 2011 at Alden Pointe Assisted Living in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Services will be held Saturday October 15, 2011 at 11:00 a.m. at Memorial Funeral Home Chapel in Columbus, with Dr. Bobby Douglas officiating. Burial will follow at Memorial Gardens Cemetery. Visitation will be held one hour prior to service at the funeral home.

Wilbur, was born on September 26, 1914, in the community of Longview in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, to the late Rev. Robert D. and Willie Watt Pearson. While attending Macon public schools he earned the rank of Eagle Scout and played violin in the High School Orchestra. He graduated from Mississippi State University in aeronautical engineering in 1937 and was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the U. S. Army. In 1938 Wilbur married high school classmate Elise Hicks and began working at Curtiss Wright Corporation in St. Louis, MO, as head designer of the wing division for the C-46. This airplane was famous for "flying the Hump" over the Himalayas during the US offensive in China during WWII. Deferred from active duty for the critical efforts of his job, he remained with Curtiss Wright throughout the war.

He and Elise then moved to Mississippi where he embarked on a career of design and construction supervision. Over the following years he designed many schools, churches, office buildings, and homes throughout the state. They lived in Laurel for five years and were residents of Columbus for 49 years where they were active in the First Baptist Church. He taught Adult Men's Sunday school, served as Deacon and enjoyed singing in the choir. He was a Lions Club Member and served as the first President of the Tombigbee Chapter of Mississippi Society of Professional Engineers.

In 1963 Wilbur joined the faculty of Mississippi State University Engineering Department. While he was an Instructor in Engineering Graphics, he wrote a textbook on construction drawing. He was also an early advocate of computerized graphics and secured a grant for the first graphics plotter for MSU's Engineering Department. He retired in l979 as an Associate Professor Emeritus and continued in private design practice another five years.

Throughout his life he was an avid fisherman. During his retirement years he enjoyed camping and traveling the United States extensively. He was also an active volunteer in the Each One Teach One program for adult illiteracy.

Following Elise's death in 1998 Wilbur married another childhood friend, Mildred Cavett Taff, in 1999. Moving to Macon, where he lived for 10 years with Mildred, he was a member of The Macon Presbyterian Church and the Rotary Club.

He is survived by his sons Wilbur Pearson, Jr., and his wife Barbara of Amherst, MA, Dennis Pearson of Marshville, NC, and daughter Charme Pearson Tate and her husband Ken of Covington, LA; a brother Dr. John Pearson and his wife Betty of Hattiesburg, MS; five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Pallbearers are C. P. Bush, Dennis Pearson, Duke Tate, Ken Tate, David Walker, Lee Walker, and Tom Weeks.

His extended family and friends will serve as honorary pallbearers. In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to:Palmer Home for Children,P.O. Box 746,Columbus, MS 39703.