A life of service

There are no words adequate to express what Coach Marion "Pete" Pierson's friendship has meant to me. I am a much better individual because of our friendship. I first met Pete after 1968 when my family joined First Baptist Church. We became close friends while we both taught young men in the senior high youth department in Sunday School. I was teaching sophomores, Pete was teaching juniors, and Milton Marcum was teaching seniors. I remember one Sunday morning Pete asked me to teach the combined classes of sophomores and juniors while he went to search for the members of our classes that were absent on that day as they had been before. He went to the men’s rest room located under the sanctuary. Upon finding
them having a party, he asked them to take a seat in the lounge area. He taught the Sunday School lesson in the men’s restroom lounge and after the class was over he explained to them that if they wished, the class would be known as the Rest Room Sunday School Class unless they wanted to return to their normal class on the following Sunday. All of them returned to their normal class the following Sunday.

Pete was also their softball coach in the spring and summer and if they did not attend church and Sunday School they were not allowed to play the next game. His integrity was amazing. He was more interested in building character than winning ball games.

He was my role model as I observed his service to others. We were greeters on the front door of the church together and he was instrumental in obtaining large umbrellas so that those getting out of cars in front of the church wouldn’t get wet, when it was raining.

We began visiting together in 1981 on Monday nights. I don't know how many visits we have made together but I have tried to estimate and the conclusion is based on 25 years times an average of 40 weeks a year. We would try to make at least three visits each Mon. night, however, some of the people we visited would not be at home. When we were visiting the sick in the hospital we would visit sometimes as many as eight. I estimate that we have made over 3,000 visits for FBC and Our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have had many enjoyable times together. We fished together and many times I would go along to other schools when he was evaluating basketball officials for the SEC. I sometimes would be very critical of an official in my untrained opinion and Pete would inform me that the most important thing was that the official was in the right position to make the call and because of that he could see it differently from me.

Pete was truly an inspiration to me and I will greatly miss him.

-Grady Friday

(For those who are new to this site, please feel free to post lessons or memories in the comments section, or e-mail me, mjpierson@yahoo.com and I'll post them.)