Mrs Iris Pearson

In loving memory of Iris & Ron

Residents of The Royal Star & Garter Homes

A tribute to Iris Pearson – by her daughters, Terry and Julie.

Mum and her sister Joy grew up in Bradford Street in the heart of Birmingham during the bombings of the second world war. The girls were evacuated to the countryside for safety but were not treated well. Eventually, on a visit to see them, Aunty Gladys & Uncle Jeffery decided to bring the girls home, thinking it better to take their chances all together than suffer apart. This made them an extremely close family.

Mum and Dad met when they happened to travel home on the same late-night bus. Being the gentleman he was, he offered to walk her home. Mum had been out dancing with friends and Dad had been to play snooker. Their first date was to the cinema. They fell in love and enjoyed a long happy marriage together.

Mum loved us, her two girls and wanted nothing but the best for us. She loved being Nanny I to Laura and Adam and although she didn’t really have an opportunity to get to know her great grandchildren, Atticus and Arlo, she would have loved them.

Mum made lots of friends throughout her life from her first job at Walter Whites, her 20 years at M&S, her lovely neighbours, who were more like family, and the many committees and clubs which she became part of.

I’m sure anyone who knew Mum would agree that she was a force of nature! What people didn’t know was that she had many insecurities and that is what drove her to strive for perfection in everything that she did. She was extremely hard working and always immersed herself fully in any project she undertook – with Dad right there beside her with an encouraging word.

When she baked, we would arrive home from school to a kitchen filled with enough cakes to start her own bakery.  When she gardened there were enough runner beans to feed the whole road and plant pots filled with flowers as far as the eye could see.  When she knitted she completed the entire pattern book.

Mum was also a human calculator! She could work out the most complex of sums in her head and knew her times tables inside out even up until a couple of years ago.

She was resourceful – a skill she has passed on to us.

Mum had only two speeds – the speed of light and stop. In fact, Dad’s Dad called her Whiz Bang, a nick name that she didn’t take too kindly to but since we found out she always wanted a better nick name and after many failed attempts, for some inexplicable reason the name Idy stuck.

The only time she slowed down was every Sunday evening when she did the ironing, while singing along to Sing Something Simple on the radio.

Mum and Dad always went on lovely holidays together, visiting Julie in Atlanta often, holidaying as a couple and also with friends and family – Joy and Vic, Norma and Stan and Pat and Derek. Mum’s cousin Pat was her best friend while growing up and, in her teens, a bond which has lasted a lifetime.

About 6 years ago Mum sadly began to be confused by everyday tasks and although Dad helped her as long as he could Mum needed to be cared for full time.

She moved to the Royal Star and Garter Home in Solihull 5 years ago and became happy and free for a while. She would dance and laugh and became part of their lovely family.
She received amazing care there until she finally slept peacefully and didn’t wake on 29th December, just days after her 87th birthday. This was just a day short of a year since her lovely Ronnie died.

We all feel like they are together again on that night bus waiting to start their next adventure together.