Lawrence Pierce Obituary

Our deepest sympathies to you and your family. We enjoyed meeting and talking with your father and watching him work in his beloved garden.

My grandfather was well into his 90's when the internet came into being, and he probably didn't have the slightest concept of an online guestbook. But he would have feigned interest and appreciated the concept. I signed up for a permanent sponsorship, whatever that means in internet space. I can only hope it will be as enduring as the impact my grandfather had my mom, on myself, and then through me on my sons, and my future grandchildren, and so on and so on.



About a year before he passed, I was driving him home from an event, and I asked about his happiness. He told me he was very happy, but upset that his memory was dashed. At the time, however, he was telling me a story about he and Ed Campbell rooming together in West Seattle in the '20s, yet he couldn't remember whose wedding he had just attended. The last time I saw grandfather was the Wednesday before his passing. He was eating some lunch, and I got glimmer of recognition. He seemed to be in great pain, and his eyes told me he was glad the end was near. At the end of our visit, he gave my hand a squeeze of assurance, and he was wheeled into his room for more care.



I only remember dreams in which I suddenly awaken in the middle of an intense, fitfull sequence. All my other dreams are lost to the ether. At exactly 2 am on the morning grandfather died, I awoke from a dream where I pictured him as I last did in life at his Wednesday lunch. He made one last attempt to stand up from his wheelchair, and he looked over at me as he collapsed aside the table -- I awoke with a jolt went out to get a drink of water. He was declared deceased at 8:45 that morning. I heard the news as I was making pancakes. Now I'm not a spiritual man when it comes to organized religion, but that level of spiritual connection will give me pause for the rest of my days.



Its hard to connect with a centenarian some 60 years your senior when life is as busy as it is, but I will always go back to his 70s and 80s, when I was his strong back, and hours of digging in the gardens, and clearing and burning brush, and setting-up firewood for the winter -- back when we both had time, and his memory was fresh, and I would impatiently want to finish so I could go water skiing. From the water, I can see grandfather in the strong afternoon light still pushing his wheelbarrow to the burn pile.

I came to know Lawrence Pierce in the early 1970s through our mutual interest in rhododendrons. He was a real gentleman, always generous and kind, and one of my rhododendron mentors. I shall always remember him with fondness.

It was during the 1970s that the distinguished rhododendron authority at the Royal Botanical Garden at Edinburgh, David Davidian, visited the Pacific Northwest and later named a red-flowering magnificent rhododendron species in honor of Lawrence and Isabelle Pierce, r. piercei. A specimen of that rhododendron graces a special place in my garden, now a memorial to his memory.

Dear Jack and Leilia, Ray and I send our deepest sympathy and prayers to you and the family over the loss of your beloved Lawrence, or "Grandpa Pierce" as we knew him. Grandpa was such a special man--one of a kind--who loved life and family. His beautiful family is a tribute to the wonderful husband, grandpa, dad, and friend he was to all. We know he has been welcomed into God's loving hands. Love, Kathy and Ray Smith