Patrick James Pierson (1944 - 2019)

Born 1 Jul 1944 in Hokitika, Westland, West Coast, New Zealand

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 6 May 2019 at age 74 in Barclay Ward, Grey Base Hospital, Greymouth, West Coast, New Zealand.

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Clare Pierson [send private message]

Biography

Pat Pierson has English ancestors.

Pat Pierson has Welsh ancestors.

Pat Pierson has Irish ancestors.

Pat Pierson lived in Hokitika, West Coast, New Zealand.

Pat Pierson lived in Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand.

Patrick was born in Hokitika in 1944. He was the son of Vic Pierson and Alice McQuilkin. He died in Greymouth Hospital in May, 2019.

Name: Patrick James Pierson. Given Name: Patrick James. Surname: Pierson. Married Name: Pierson.

Died Y. 6 May 2019. Barclay Ward, Grey Base Hospital, Greymouth, West Coast, New Zealand. Note: With his sister, Clare, beside him at 10.50 pm. Age: 74. Cause: Obstructive Pneumonia, Esophageal cancer metastases.

Buried Greenstone Cemetery, Kumara, West Coast with his great grandfather, Charles Philetous Pierson. ^[1]

Eulogy: Patrick's Eulogy written mainly by his former wife, Margaret Boyd Pierson and read with feeling at the funeral by David Caygill (a sentence or were two added to this biography by me, Pat's sister at relevant points) Biography

Pat was born in Hokitika, the youngest of four children, 01 July 1944. His father, Vic, was a saw miller and his mother was a skilled and talented homemaker and gardener. Pat's only sister, Clare, remembers that his childhood was a free and adventurous one, in the outdoors most of the time that he was not at school. He enjoyed fishing and developed some of his later initiative and drive by trawling the local rubbish dumps along the river for scrap metal and bottles which he sold. Clare remembers helping him to melt down lead and only recently realised that she never saw any of the profits. He went to St Mary's Primary School and at the age of 11 was diagnosed with TB. He underwent surgery in the Christchurch Public Hospital and spent along recuperation first at the Lower Sanatorium at Cashmere and then at the Middle Sanatorium further up the hill which comprised individual huts for each patient. He was one of only two children there at the time among adult patients and his experiences in hospitals and lengthy stay away from home made a lifelong impression on him. He read many books during that time. His interest in gardening also began early with his mother, Alice maintaining a very large and lovely garden and his father, Vic with extensive vegetable plots. Pat always loved flowers, particularly spring bulbs and gerberas. In later life he made large plantings of these at their family home 336 Mandeville Road, Ohoka.

When he returned to Hokitika at age 12, he completed two years of schooling in one year of primary school and moved over the road to St Mary's High School. During his teenage years he acquired his first dog, Don, a beautiful cocker spaniel which he loved and often carried around in a basket on his bike.

After he left school, Pat worked as an orderly at the Westland Hospital on Seaview hill, Hokitika. It is extraordinary the amount of medical knowledge he acquired during that time. Margaret and Pat went up to Seaview during the months before he died and Pat was able to describe the use of all the buildings there and who lived in the derelict staff houses. Paul Teen recalls working with Pat (16 or 17 years old) at the building site of Fletchers Gladstone plywood factory where Pat's brother, John, was the accountant after it had been built and was operational. They worked hard as labourers, barrowing concrete. Next he worked at the local Land Transfer Office in the Government Buildings in Hokitika from which he transferred to the Land Transfer Office in Christchurch at 18 years of age.

Margaret met Pat (20) in 1964 and they married in January 1966. Pat appreciated the welcome he received from Margaret's mother, her father Phil and her three sisters and two brothers. Margaret recalls two trips she, Pat and Phil made to Hokitika and Pat was given a hard time by Phil's friends about his long hair and opinions about the Vietnam War. Pat was surprised when Phil took his side and shut them down. Philip, their son, remembers that Pat spoke a lot about Margaret's father, Phil. He was shocked and saddened when Phil died suddenly at the age of 48 not long before their wedding at Our Lady of Fatima Church, Mairehau. After they were married, Margaret and Pat flatted in Christchurch with Pat often working two jobs because he was driven to buy their first house. In summers he would cart hay for Jack Lytton, arriving home dirty and exhausted. He and Warwick Pfahlert began doing "foreigners" at weekends, mostly taking down brick chimneys which were, again, dirty, hard work. Their first house was in Francis Avenue, St Albans where they stayed until just after Philip was born in 1971. A Sunday drive with the new baby took them out to Mandeville Road in Ohoka where there was a For Sale sign on a gate. A long drive took them up to a dilapidated old cottage. Pat and Margaret spoke with the owners and they bought the 10 acre property in a matter of weeks. They shifted to 336 Mandeville Road, Ohoka in early 1972.

Pat and Margaret had five children, the first baby girl was stillborn, Philip, Melanie, Kirsten and Richard. Margaret's sisters were raising their children at the same time and the 19 cousins were linked through their grandmother, Margaret, who loved to see them all together especially at the Christmas family gatherings in Ohoka, which Pat's mother, Alice who loved the children dearly, also attended, often with Pat's sister, Clare. The cousins will remember the annual lolly scramble which Uncle Colin began at Christmas one year and being marshalled by their Uncle Eddie, photographer, for most of the family photos. David Caygill reminded us about Pat being the white-bait patties chef at many family gatherings. Pat loved his family and was proud of each of his children. He also loved his work and its challenges. Before the children left home he would blend the two areas of his life and all the children had periods of doing hard physical work for their father. Margaret objected only once when Melanie arrived home exhausted after working as a labourer at the dry dock in Lyttelton. Pat kept working at Upright Scaffolding until 2007 when he sold his half of the business to Warwick Pfahlert and started Pierson Scaffolding Services Ltd in Hokitika where he was Director until his death. Pat's two sons, Philip and Richard worked for him and he left the business to them. Two brothers-in-law, John Boyd and Eddie Gibb, worked at Upright Scaffolding at times.

Pat had an intense interest in local history and specifically in the industries that caused towns and settlements to be set up. In any new place to which he went he was most curious about what work went on there and would drive around until he had found a factory or mine to explain the settlement's existence. If he could not immediately figure it out, he would go to second hand book shops and seek out the local history. Philip commented that when Pat went to Perth to visit him, he wanted to show his father the tourist spots and lovely beaches, but Pat would have none of it. He wanted to see the industrial sites and what went on at the port and Philip's place of work. Pat read widely and had an impressive collection of books, mainly about mining and engineering works from the early days until today. At one stage he kept buying copies of Philip Ross May's History of the West Coast Gold Rushes, which is now rather rare and there must be a least one to give to each of the children. He also has a collection of old magazines which he read regularly and his copy of "The Pierson Millennium" was well thumbed and worn from his reading it, right up until shortly before he died.

In recent days all the children have recalled their memories of Pat's story telling. Melanie recalls the funny stories Pat would tell about places they drove through on the way to the West Coast. He could recount the oddest incidents and it was never quite clear what was fact and what he had exaggerated for the sake of a good story. There are themes in what family members say about Pat. They describe his sense of humour and his unforgettable story telling; his lifelong love of dogs and his garden; his compassion for them when they were having a hard time, his rescuing them when they had a crisis and his lack of recrimination when they had done something stupid. Richard said that they always knew that Pat had their back. Kirsty says that she cannot remember how many times she would call Pat, usually because of car trouble. She and the car were always rescued. She said that Pat taught her how to work hard, play 500s, to carry a plank and throw a clip, to swear effectively and not be intimidated by plonkers. The others would agree with this list. Pat ensured that his children had the best education possible, paying for them to attend private High Schools such as St Margaret's College and St Andrews. Over the years Pat worked with a large number of men and their tributes to him at a recent gathering in Hokitika surprised him and meant a great deal to him. He remembered everything that was said, repeating some of it to Margaret and others.

Pat was proud of some former Upright Scaffolding men who have become successful in their own businesses. Men employed by Pat mentioned his sense of humour, his challenging work ethic, his compassion for people in a bad space and his outrageous stories. HIs nephew, Terry was impressed by the extensive knowledge Pat had of history and wanted him to record the stories, but Pat was too ill by that time. A lawyer, Eymard Bradley, who was at school with Pat told him recently that he would be remembered for his compassion. He said that if a little boy at school messed his pants, it would be Pat who took his hand and walked him over to the toilet block to clean him up. The men have many of their own stories to tell about some of the big bridge and viaduct projects they tackled in the high country at places such as Slovens Creek and Broken River. Pat gave his people a hand up when they needed it and always a second chance to prove themselves. He demanded a commitment to hard physical work with no slacking until the job was done. He worked the hardest himself and took more risks than he expected of his men - not totally in compliance with today's health and safety standards.

Pat was overwhelmed by his feelings for his five grandchildren. He loved them greatly and was an indulgent grandfather. There were no lectures on the value of a good work ethic for them. He saw a lot of Richard's children, Sora and Louis, who lived locally and when he was very ill would disguise his pain and lack of energy when they came to visit, going to Cass Square with them and proudly seeing Sora in a production of "Annie" at Easter. Too ill to travel to Christchurch for the family gathering at Ohoka, Pat was hugely pleased when all his grandchildren came to visit him over the Easter period.

In an Article in the "West Coast Messenger", ^[2] called "The Whole Nine Yards. Pierson Scaffolding - Hokitika," Pat was described as follows: 'Three promotions with no pay rise because of your age, is not something you would expect today, but that was how work began for Pat Pierson. Beginning at the Lands and Deeds Office based in Seddon House, Hokitika followed by a spell working first in Westland Hospital and later in Burwood Hospital as a theatre assistant, Pat then moved into scaffolding in 1963. Early work included bridging projects for the railways, Inangahua earthquake repairs, maintenance of the Christchurch Cathedral and gargoyles around the city which led to the purchase of Upright Scaffolding, a company owned by Pat for 42 years. In 1968, when the wool price was suppressed and the government banned building permits for work over $50,000, Pat diversified into maintaining international fishing vessels and Union ships and servicing Hercules and larger Air New Zealand planes. Around the 1970s, he also built stages for big international gigs like Elton John, Rod Stewart and The Beach Boys. Selling the Upright Scaffolding business in 2007, Pat returned to the West Coast and he set up Pierson Scaffolding Services ltd in the former foundry in Hokitika, with 12 men, 8 trucks and many of his old railway clients. New work on the Coast and throughout New Zealand followed, including the Westland Dairy factory, coal mines, Wellington's iconic cable car and motorway bridges. Naming a long list of bridges he has maintained, Pat jokes that he has probably erected the scaffolding for some to be repaired as many as five times in his 50 years. Pat chooses to do what he does best - scaffolding. He believes that over the years he has learned the value of getting advice, doing things right and getting assistance when he needs it. Rather than employing his own staff and systems, he turned to Cuffs who handle monthly invoicing, payment of accounts, payroll, GST, annual accounts and monitoring the company's finances. Pat kept up-to-date through regular reposts supplied by Cuffs. Pat said, "I wanted someone local, because I run the whole ship and need secretarial support, someone to do the whole nine yards".'

Clare's other memories of Pat: When Pat was born in the Hampton Street Maternity Home, 01 July 1944, his eldest brother, John was 11.5 years old, Neville was 7.9 years and Clare 2.7 years. We lived at 17 Jollie Street, Hokitika, a place with extensive grounds with flower and vegetable gardens, hedges, a bridge across the creeks flowing through and ornamental trees, which our parents were paying off. At that time there was a garage at the front of the property and two large sheds and a sleep-out with an open fire place at the back. The flush toilet was outside. During Pat's childhood, the family had no car, no refrigerator and no electric stove. Our father, Vic, worked in mills in South Westland, staying there overnight from Monday to Friday, so that our mother, Alice, was on her own caring for the four children except on weekends. I remember going to the Plunket with Mum and Pat being put into a dish on a scales, to be weighed. Trying to keep up with the wicker pram was difficult for my short legs, but sometimes I was put onto the front of the pram to sit between the handles. Later, Pat was in a pushchair when we went to town. I do not recall him ever crying or grizzling. Next I recall the two of us being bathed together and also sharing a double bed in a large bedroom with an open fire place from when Pat moved from a cot to a bed up until I was about 6. During his primary school years Pat was a friend of the neighbourhood children who lived nearby, mostly younger than himself, and I would see his running through our property, leaping over gardens with a stream of children tearing along behind him. He looked like a fast moving pied piper.

Pat and John Glass were known around town as the snowy head boys, their exploits not always being appreciated. With older children and me we spent many, many hours down exploring and playing on the river bed, climbing trees, making things with wood, nails and string, at the beach, in the wartime installations at the aerodrome on the south side of the river and various other outdoor places. We had no watches, but knew when to be home for tea, we knew the tides from experience and when to get back from down by the railway bridge to cross a branch of the river cutting between two channels before it was too deep. We knew how to watch out for undermined banks and were well able to keep ourselves safe. We both had our first flight in a Tiger Moth plane when I was only about 4 years old. I can still see the sea below us and looking down on the town. Vic brought home off-cuts of timber from the mill and cut it up for firewood at home. There was a pile of timber lying on the ground behind the fowl house which Pat used to construct a three or four storey square building. During the night, flames were seen leaping into the sky; the fire brigade came and extinguished the fire. How it started in wet wood was never discovered. When he was digging the potato patch one day, Pat, about 8 or 9 years old, enthusiastically thrust the fork into the ground, it going right through his foot in the process and out the sole of his gumboot. Alice, knew how to dress it with a poultice and was praised by the doctor for her efforts.

In his early teens, Pat kept homing pigeons in a suitable cage in the tool/bike shed. They spent more time outside than in their cage and would sit on our shoulders. One was seen riding on the mudguard of a Borough Council truck in Gibson Quay. Sadly some aggressive local young thug shot them which was distressing for Pat and the family. Pat was an exceptionally cognitively gifted person. When we were to do the dishes together Pat would work out some way of disappearing. On one occasion the dishes were washed and draining on the bench waiting to be dried by Pat. I went to clear the table and when I went back to the sink the dishes were all gone as was Pat. I found them all back in the water in the sink. Pat had wanted to become a doctor, but his dislike of High School and the lack of tuition in the necessary subjects at St Mary's High School, didn't augur well for entry into and intensive University study. The outdoor work won out in the end.His memory was phenomenal and he was able to recite all the poetry he liked that he ever learned at school right up to a few days before he died. When he was the only child left at home, he asked his mother why she worked so hard keeping up the beautiful and extensive gardens where bridal parties had their photos taken. She replied that she had done it for her children so that we children would have a lovely environment in which to grow up. At Alice's funeral Pat said that he had worked so hard on his huge gardens at Ohoka "for Alice". He delighted in seeing her out there enjoying his work and loving the beauty of it.

Near middle age, Pat was curious to know if he would qualify for work as a detective so went in one day in his work clothes to make inquiries. He was sent packing. He went in again dressed up in his best and was invited to take a test. I suspect this was the Otis Test of Adult Intelligence. After 20 minutes Pat stood up to go out and was told he couldn't leave for 30 minutes. Pat said that he had finished and went. He received a number of calls asking him to go back in because of his exceptional score, but never did, satisfied that he could have, had he wanted to. When I was teaching at Villa Maria College in 1968, I recall looking out the classroom window to see Pat swinging high up around the Feltex Carpet Factory chimney on a rope! He did a lot of work on chimneys (Christchurch Hospital), cleaning high rise building windows and other similar precarious work. When I moved back to Hokitika in 2004, Pat reported that he had told Margaret that his mobile phone had fallen into the Taramakau River when he was working on that road - rail bridge, but that he had failed to say that it was in his pocket when it fell with him! How many such events occurred one will never know. He was beside his truck, back towards the incline of the Wellington Cable Car, when an earthquake nearly trapped him between the truck and a fence. He said that it was a rather frightening and painful experience. Almost two years before he died and he was unwell, Pat asked me to do some administration work for his business as he was no longer able to manage it all. It was very interesting to be involved in a business about which I knew next to nothing, to get to know the men and to get to know the adult Pat and his two sons, well. I will always treasure those near two years. He graciously complimented me on the wording of messages he asked me to send, was always grateful for the work I did with invoices and suchlike though my rather laborious computer based approach was a bit if a mystery to him as he had always kept everything in his memory and collated it at the end of each month!

When Pat first went to Hokitika to set up Pierson Scaffolding Services Ltd, the former foundry and a house next to it were in a dilapidated and untidy state, a real eyesore. People in Bealey Street were delighted when he gave new life to the foundry building, demolished the old house to make a park for trucks, developed gardens around it and painted the former offices to be used as flat, their outlook was unrecognisably changed for the better and no doubt the potential value of their properties improved. Inevitably, exceptional cognitive ability tends to be accompanied by heightened sensory experiences, intense emotions and often consequent anxiety. Pat's early experiences in Hospital and the Sanatorium and other times that were somewhat traumatic for him, left him with a high degree of anxiety which led to self-medication with alcohol as he grew older, but his astute mind never failed. Twice he fell down the steep stairs at the Pierson Scaffolding Building in Hokitika where he had his flat, resulting in multiple fractures of his pelvis both times. He used crutches and despite the excruciating pain would go up and down the stairs continuing to be there to keep the business running and to be among his men. When Pat told me to get a pen and paper and write down what he wanted for his funeral said that wanted to be buried in his great grandfather's grave at the Kumara cemetery; to have the Pierson genealogy from the great grandfather down to his children, on the headstone; for a short service to be in the Kumara Hall so that if people wanted to, they could go across to the hotel over the road afterwards. There was to be "No Jesus stuff", but he wanted Leonard Cohen's 'Alleluia' played, Ted Thorn to play his accordion and most especially, to say goodbye and ask for prayers for himself because he wished that he had been a better person. He chose the following which he frequently recited: "The old order changeth, yielding place to new, And God fulfills himself in many ways, Lest one good custom should corrupt the world. Comfort thyself: what comfort is in me? I have lived my life, and that which I have done May He within himself make pure! But thou, If thou shouldst never see my face again, Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice Rise like a fountain for me night and day. For what are men better than sheep or goats that nourish a blind life within the brain, If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer Both for themselves and for a friend."

Pat stoically endured the pain of his last illness in his flat, until it was unbearable and he had to leave the flat and his two beloved dogs, Fred and Rupert, to be admitted to Hospital. It was not until the day he died, days later, after he contracted obstructive pneumonia, and adequately medicated, that he was free from pain at last. Pat remained conscious to the end and I was privileged and glad to be with him when he peacefully took his last few breaths after 10.0 pm, May 6 2019.

Sources

1. ↑ Memorial: Find a Grave (has image)
   Find A Grave: Memorial #200487624 (accessed 28 February 2023)
   Memorial page for Patrick James Pierson (1 Jul 1944-6 May 2019), citing Kumara Cemetery, Kumara, Westland District, West Coast, New Zealand (plot: Block 14, Plot 183A); Maintained by sammytom74 (contributor 49101323).
2. ↑ "West Coast Messenger" page 13 Wednesday, 27 November 20

• Direct, first hand knowledge of all the family from Pat's birth to his death.

Family Trees

• Patrick James Pierson: FamilySearch Family Tree

Birth: Day 01 Month 07 Year 1944 - Hokitika Maternity Home Death: Day 06 Month 05 Year 2019 - Greymouth Hospital Parents: Alice May Pierson and Victor Augustus Pierson Siblings: John Victor Pierson, Neville Matthew Pierson and Marilyn Clare Pierson.