From Charlie Renfroe

(Message from Guest Book)

Tim Pearson was the most intense man I have ever met, no matter what the subject he was on at the time. I first came to know Tim as we went to THS together and became fast friends as he and Danny Morgan were always cruising the Dog House for the girls in his 1957 Power Pack Chevrolet Two Door hardtop sports model... along with me and Donny Hinton in my 53 Mercury and then later my 61 Ford Falcon with the speaker under the hood...whisltin' at the girls don't you know...we attended every THS basketball game in 1961 when he and Danny, Harry Hammonds, Tim Parker, and Jeff Townsend could have beat the LA Lakers as we went to the State Championship and he got hurt in the finals and we "won it for Tim" that year...then he became intimately aquainted with Jesus and told everyone he met about Him with a passion, he would even have witnessed to a Buzz Saw if it stood still long enough.

I spoke with Tim Pearson nearly every month of his life the past 5years as he would call me to encourage me or enlist my assistance in one of his mission trips...the last time I heard from him was when he wanted to come to our 50th reunion, but sadly died that day on May 7th...I loved Tim Pearson and told him so each time we spoke, I will miss him.

~ Charlie Renfroe, Class of 1961, Atlanta, GA
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(Email message sent to friends)

Dear Friends;

I was visiting with Bob Boshell tonight and he told me that Tim Pearson had passed away, we immediately called his cell phone and his wife Michelle answered the phone.

I had last heard from Tim, as he called me a couple of times a month for a good visit and he wanted to come to the reunion in Tuscaloosa on May the 7th. His wife told me that he had not been feeling well and that he went to sleep Friday night the 6th and when she went to wake him Saturday morning he was in his prone position on his back with his hands behind his head when he was praying....and that he had gone peacefully in his sleep,..... talking with his Master, as Patty and I were considering all of this sudden departure, she told me that she knew that Tim was where he always wanted to be at this very moment....sometimes we do not understand why God calls some so young but I know that right now Tim knows! and I am intensely happy for him.

I loved Tim Pearson and often told him so....and when he and I would speak he was both tender and intense as he shared with me his passionate love for Christ and his burning desire for all that he encountered to know Him personally. I would always have a good conversation with him telling him that he should always remember that a great salesman would always leave the door open if he did not make the sale on the first call...I told him that he did not want to run anyone away from the Gospel...he would always ask me, where would they go?...Hell number two?...and was I in smoking or non-smoking section?

He would always leave me with a prayer for me and my family that God would keep me safe to protect my ailing heart ( sometimes in a foreign language- that he would translate for me) and that I would continue to be the encouragement to others that I was to him...how many times I failed him, even though I would take his calls and at times endure his passionate plea for mankind and the condition of the core values of America etc,....I did nor return his call last week when he left me a message that he wanted to go to the reunion but did not have the money for the plane fare...then the tornado hit and Tuscaloosa was destroyed and I went over there to check on our business and just failed to call him back...I wish now that I had called him.

He also sent me a text message on April the 4th that I still have, telling me about Coach Tarlton's passing and how much he meant to him when he coached them to the State Championship game in '61...life is so short when we think about it...please pray for his family, as he has two adult children and Michelle his current wife...I am going to call her back tomorrow to see if there is anything she needs, and if so I will report back to you all...

Thinking of Tim....

~ Charlie Renfroe