Viola CLARK

1910 - 2012  (102 years)

• Name	Viola CLARK  [1, 2]
  Birth	1 Jan 1910	White Oak area of Clarendon County, South Carolina
  Gender	Female
  HIST	at death- she had 45 grandchildren, 75 great-grandchildren, 38 great-great-grandchildren, 21 great-great-great-grandchildren and 11 great-great-great-great-grandchildren 'Pioneer' of desegregation will be remembered Robert J. Baker bbaker@theitem.com Clarendon School District 1 Superintendent Rose Wilder is aware of the role Viola Pearson has played in her life. Though Wilder wasn't even born when Pearson and her husband, Levi, helped lead the Civil Rights Movement in South Carolina, she is well aware she might not have her educational degrees, her job or even her status in the Summerton community. "Because of the path she took years ago, we are able to do things we weren't able to do in the past," said Wilder of African-Americans. "We may never have been able to do those things. Many of us have been afforded opportunities because of the stance she and her husband and others like them took." Viola Clark Pearson, 102, died Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, at Clarendon Memorial Hospital in Manning, eight years after her beloved Levi and more than six decades after the couple began working with 17 other families to bring down segregation in South Carolina's public schools. She was born Jan. 1, 1910, in the White Oak area of Clarendon County to the late Joe and Susan Boyle Clark. She attended White Oak school and later a little wooden school next to Mount Zion AME Church. When she married Levi at 20, he was a widower with four children. The couple later had eight children together and attended Mount Zion, where Pearson was known as the "Mother of the Church." But it is her work with and support of her husband for which most Clarendon County residents remember her. But she didn't see herself as a hero, although she told The Item in 2004 that she was flattered others did. She wanted simply to be remembered as a good wife, mother, grandmother and a lady of God. "She certainly was all of those things," said Sen. John Land, D-Manning. "She had an outstanding character, never had a bad thing to say about anyone. I just saw her a few weeks ago, and she was just as lucid as you or I might be. She loved people and loved her family and loved the Lord." She rarely talked about much of the Briggs v. Elliott case or her husband's participation in it. She felt that she and her husband did what was right. No more, no less. She would talk of memories of being afraid when Ku Klux Klan members drove their trucks into her neighborhood near Davis Station and began shooting. Many nights, she said, she and her husband would take turns sleeping so that one of them could keep watch. "One evening they was out there blocking every fork of the road," she said. "They said if he (Levi) come out, they was going to kill him, and (they said) if they catch him out in the woods, they was going to kill him." She remembered the hard times she and her family had when segregationists in Clarendon County took umbrage with her husband's work. The family couldn't get credit, fertilizer for their farm, anything. "He was a farmer, and he planted wheat, but he couldn't get nobody to cut that," she said. "He cut logs in the woods, but he couldn't get nobody to take it away, and it just rot on the ground. People wouldn't sell him gas. He had the money, but they wouldn't sell it to him." Land said Viola's support is what kept Levi going. "I think she was just there for him like any strong woman could be," Land said. "I think he derived a lot of his strength from her, even up until his death years ago." Though not a braggart about her role in it, she was proud of her husband's work, telling people frequently that one of her happiest memories was receiving the Congressional Gold Medal on behalf of her late husband in September 2004. Wilder believes it's an honor well-deserved. "I grew up just 15 miles from here (Summerton), and now I am superintendent of this district," she said in 2011. "The work that these pioneers did in affording younger generations like mine an opportunity that can't be forgotten. Her legacy will live on in the work that we do for our future generations." Funeral services will be held noon Friday at Historic Mount Zion AME Church with the Rev. Edward Roberts officiating. Samuels Funeral Home LLC of Manning is in charge of arrangements. -- Robert J. Baker   Brown v. Board of Education's Clarendon roots The case that ultimately ended state-sanctioned separation of races in American public schools is remembered as Brown v. Board of Education (of Topeka, Kan.), but the case had its roots in Clarendon County, in Summerton, when a small group of families made a simple request in 1947 for a bus to transport their children to the school several miles from their homes. The Clarendon County case is known as Briggs v. Elliott. In the 1940s, South Carolina's black children walked miles to school, many times past white schools closer to their homes; they sat in cold school buildings with little to no adequate heat, where children themselves had to search for wood to fill stove heaters; and they read from inadequate resources, like hand-me-down books from white schools that were outdated. In 1947, seven years before the Supreme Court made its landmark decision to end the practice of "separate, but equal" educational facilities for white and black children, Levi and Viola Pearson sent a simple letter to R.M. Elliott, the white superintendent of Summerton School District, and asked for a school bus. Three of their children had to walk more than 9 miles to a high school farther away than a white school where students had use of a bus. Twenty-one Clarendon families signed a petition demanding Elliott provide a bus when the Pearsons got a negative answer to their request. Elliott's answer was still no. The parents scrounged up their own transportation, a used bus, but Elliott still balked at providing gas for rides to and from the school. Levi, with the help of the Rev. J.A. DeLaine, took the unprecedented step of suing Elliott and the county school district to get only equal transportation, initially. Joined by more than 100 area residents, who met at the Historic Mount Zion AME Church to sign the final petition that year, the Pearsons knew they had a fight on their hands. "People came in like ants to sign," Viola Pearson told The Item in 2004. "Lord, they did! They were glad to sign it." The case was dismissed in 1948 when the local court ruled that the Pearsons lived in one district while their children went to school in another, despite knowing the Summerton school was the only high school in the area for their children to attend. Families sought the help of Thurgood Marshall and another case was eventually appealed to the Supreme Court, which joined the case with three others, including Brown v. Board of Education. Throughout all of it, the families who signed the initial petition were hassled by Clarendon's pro-segregation residents. Harry and Eliza Briggs, the namesake for the Summerton case, were fired from their jobs, and the DeLaine family ultimately left the state altogether due to harassment. But Levi and Viola stayed, though they couldn't get credit, farming equipment or even anyone to buy their wheat when they had it. Their kids, unable to get jobs themselves, had to move north and send money to their parents. "That's how we got money for food," Viola said in an Item file story. "But we never thought about leaving. We never did think of that." She said what she and her husband did was what the "Lord showed." "That's the way the Lord showed it to him," she said. "(Levi) just said, ‘I'm going to go out there and go do something for these poor little children, my little children.' And I'd say, ‘Levi, why you going out there to do that? You know how these people is, you not going to get nothing.' He'd say, ‘Viola, you can say what you want, but I'm going out and sue if it leads to my grave.' That's the words he said, and I never will forget that. And he did it, too. He suffered through it. He stood up like a man." In 2004, Viola said she felt respect from "white and black folk alike." She said she always looked to new generations to change minds and hearts. "I don't believe the young people are like (the old ones)," she said. "They play together so nice and good and enjoy it."   Posted in Local news, News on Wednesday, February 1, 2012 Viola C. Pearson MANNING -- Viola Clark Pearson, 102, widow of Levi Pearson Sr., died Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, at Clarendon Memorial Hospital, Manning. She was born Jan. 1, 1910, in the White Oak section of Manning, a daughter of the late Joe and Susan Boyle Clark. She received her education at the White Oak School. At an early age, she joined Triumph Church. After marriage, she moved her membership to Mt. Zion AME Church, where she was a faithful member. She was a member of the YWCA No. 10 and the Eastern Star. Survivors are three sons, Levi (Evangelist Clementine) Pearson Jr. and James Pearson, both of Manning, and Joseph (Alfonza) Pearson of Newark, N.J.; seven daughters, Virginia Lemon, Daisy Lewis, Mary Pearson, Ola Slappy and Vinell (John) Nelms, all of Manning, Elouise Wineglass of Hillside, N.J., and Carrie Jones of Newark; two sisters, Hattie Jenkins and Pauline Walker; 45 grandchildren; 75 great-grandchildren; 38 great-great-grandchildren; 21 great-great-great-grandchildren; and 11 great-great-great-great-grandchildren. Wake service will be held from 6 to 7 p.m. today at Hayes F. & LaNelle J. Samuels Sr. Memorial Chapel, 114 N. Church St., Manning. The remains will be placed in the church at 11 a.m. with services at noon Friday at Historic Mt. Zion AME Church, 6547 MW Rickenbaker Road, Summerton, with the Rev. Edward Roberts, pastor, presiding, the Rev. Albert Thompson, eulogist, assisting the Rev. Rufus Gaymon, the Rev. Dr. Willie Heggins II and the Rev. O'Donald Dingle. The family is receiving friends at the home, 1853 L&H Pearson Road, Manning. Online memorials may be sent to samuelsfuneralhome.com. These services have been entrusted to Samuels Funeral Home LLC of Manning. Posted in Obituaries on Thursday, February 2, 2012 Family, friends remember Civil Rights Pioneer Viola Pearson 0207 FRONT Viola Pearson File photoViola Clark Pearson said one of the proudest moments of her 102 years was accepting the Congressional Gold Medal in 2004 on behalf of her late husband, Levi Pearson. The couple set the desegregation of America's public schools in motion in the late 1940s with a simple request for a school bus to transport Summerton's black children to and from school each day. Robert J. Baker bbaker@theitem.com SUMMERTON - She went from living in a time with no telephone to the time where nearly everyone has a smart phone. She went from a time where schools in her hometown were separated based on race to a time where a black woman with a Ph.D. runs the school district that once fiercely opposed any change to that racial policy. "She was a woman who always went beyond the unexpected," said granddaughter Lori "Little Cookie" Pearson Hodge. "Even in her final days, she was not the routine patient. She had that Pearson tendency to never be predictable." Pearson died Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, at the age of 102, eight years after her late husband Levi and more than six decades after the couple made a simple request that would change the course of education in the county, state and nation. "She was the quiet strength behind her husband," said Clarendon County NAACP President Julius Adger Sr. "She supported his efforts at a better life for their children and for the community's children." Rep. Kevin Johnson, D-Manning, said that Pearson stood "beside her husband, not behind him" when he made a small request in 1947 for a school bus to carry Summerton's black children back and forth to a school almost 9 miles away from many of their homes. Many of the children had to walk an even longer journey daily to get to school, passing a white school along the way where white children were already using buses. The request was denied by R.M. Elliott, the white superintendent of the Summerton School District, even after the Pearsons and other families scrounged up their own bus and asked only that the district pay for gas. Levi Pearson filed a lawsuit that was thrown out a year later on a technicality, but the fight continued in the Briggs v. Elliott case that ultimately was subsumed with four other cases to form the groundbreaking Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kan., case that struck down separate, but equal school facilities across the nation. "We truly stand on their shoulders to see what we see today," said Manning NAACP Chairman Robert Fleming. "I'd like to thank Ms. Viola for doing something when others would not." Johnson agreed. "I think a lot of our problems today come from not having enough leaders who will sacrifice for the right things," he said. Sacrifice was something the Pearson family knew much about. After filing his own suit, Levi Pearson was shunned throughout Clarendon County; a farmer by trade, he couldn't get anyone to even sell him equipment, much less buy any crops he was able to grow. Viola Pearson told The Item and Clarendon Sun in 2004 that she remembers the Ku Klux Klan sitting at all corners of the couple's property, hoping to frighten them into submission. "When you look back at her life, all you can see is that she sacrificed herself for our community," said Hayes F. Samuels. "She wanted better not just for her own family, but for all of our families." While community leaders and family friends honored Pearson's contributions to the struggle against segregation in Clarendon County's public schools, her family and close friends remembered her as the loving, proud woman who always put family first. "I was just honored to be Mother Pearson's class leader," said church member Pauline Nelson. "She carried herself in a beautiful way and encouraged me to continue on, even when I was struggling. No matter what, she always told me to just 'Keep on praying.'" Nelson said Pearson always had a smile and a story for those who stopped by her home on L and H Pearson Road near Davis Station. "There was so much wisdom in her," Nelson said. "She just always had so much to give people." Granddaughter Doris Johnson joked that Pearson was the "cutest, nosiest little woman I ever met." "But, boy, could you keep a secret!" Johnson said. "She was just a grand woman, and I could stand up here all day and talk about her." Johnson spent time with Pearson at Clarendon Memorial Hospital during the matriarch's final days, reading her passages of scripture and opening the window blinds each morning so Pearson could see the sunlight, a favorite morning hobby. "When she left us, she had her arms spread to the heavens," Johnson said. "I would encourage the family to continue to spread your love as (she) spread her arms to the heavens that day." Hodge said her grandmother was a praying woman, and never gave up on anyone, no matter how lost the situation seemed. "She always prayed for me and brought me through a lot of hard times," Hodge said. "So many times we've seen our family healed. Grandma's prayers brought victory to the Pearson family." Survivors include three sons, Levi (Evangelist Clementine) Pearson Jr. and James Pearson, both of Manning, and Joseph (Alfonza) Pearson of Newark, N.J.; seven daughters, Virginia Lemon, Daisy Lewis, Mary Pearson, Ola Slappy and Vinell (John) Nelms, all of Manning, Elouise Wineglass of Hillside, N.J., and Carrie Jones of Newark; two sisters, Hattie Jenkins and Pauline Walker; 45 grandchildren; 75 great-grandchildren; 38 great-great-grandchildren; 21 great-great-great-grandchildren; and 11-great-great-great-great-grandchildren. For clips from Friday's memorial service, visit www.theitem.com/clarendon_sun. Posted in Clarendon sun on Tuesday, February 7, 2012  [1, 2, 3]
  HIST	at death- she had 45 grandchildren, 75 great-grandchildren, 38 great-great-grandchildren, 21 great-great-great-grandchildren and 11 great-great-great-great-grandchildren 'Pioneer' of desegregation will be remembered Robert J. Baker bbaker@theitem.com Clarendon School District 1 Superintendent Rose Wilder is aware of the role Viola Pearson has played in her life. Though Wilder wasn't even born when Pearson and her husband, Levi, helped lead the Civil Rights Movement in South Carolina, she is well aware she might not have her educational degrees, her job or even her status in the Summerton community. "Because of the path she took years ago, we are able to do things we weren't able to do in the past," said Wilder of African-Americans. "We may never have been able to do those things. Many of us have been afforded opportunities because of the stance she and her husband and others like them took." Viola Clark Pearson, 102, died Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, at Clarendon Memorial Hospital in Manning, eight years after her beloved Levi and more than six decades after the couple began working with 17 other families to bring down segregation in South Carolina's public schools. She was born Jan. 1, 1910, in the White Oak area of Clarendon County to the late Joe and Susan Boyle Clark. She attended White Oak school and later a little wooden school next to Mount Zion AME Church. When she married Levi at 20, he was a widower with four children. The couple later had eight children together and attended Mount Zion, where Pearson was known as the "Mother of the Church." But it is her work with and support of her husband for which most Clarendon County residents remember her. But she didn't see herself as a hero, although she told The Item in 2004 that she was flattered others did. She wanted simply to be remembered as a good wife, mother, grandmother and a lady of God. "She certainly was all of those things," said Sen. John Land, D-Manning. "She had an outstanding character, never had a bad thing to say about anyone. I just saw her a few weeks ago, and she was just as lucid as you or I might be. She loved people and loved her family and loved the Lord." She rarely talked about much of the Briggs v. Elliott case or her husband's participation in it. She felt that she and her husband did what was right. No more, no less. She would talk of memories of being afraid when Ku Klux Klan members drove their trucks into her neighborhood near Davis Station and began shooting. Many nights, she said, she and her husband would take turns sleeping so that one of them could keep watch. "One evening they was out there blocking every fork of the road," she said. "They said if he (Levi) come out, they was going to kill him, and (they said) if they catch him out in the woods, they was going to kill him." She remembered the hard times she and her family had when segregationists in Clarendon County took umbrage with her husband's work. The family couldn't get credit, fertilizer for their farm, anything. "He was a farmer, and he planted wheat, but he couldn't get nobody to cut that," she said. "He cut logs in the woods, but he couldn't get nobody to take it away, and it just rot on the ground. People wouldn't sell him gas. He had the money, but they wouldn't sell it to him." Land said Viola's support is what kept Levi going. "I think she was just there for him like any strong woman could be," Land said. "I think he derived a lot of his strength from her, even up until his death years ago." Though not a braggart about her role in it, she was proud of her husband's work, telling people frequently that one of her happiest memories was receiving the Congressional Gold Medal on behalf of her late husband in September 2004. Wilder believes it's an honor well-deserved. "I grew up just 15 miles from here (Summerton), and now I am superintendent of this district," she said in 2011. "The work that these pioneers did in affording younger generations like mine an opportunity that can't be forgotten. Her legacy will live on in the work that we do for our future generations." Funeral services will be held noon Friday at Historic Mount Zion AME Church with the Rev. Edward Roberts officiating. Samuels Funeral Home LLC of Manning is in charge of arrangements. -- Robert J. Baker   Brown v. Board of Education's Clarendon roots The case that ultimately ended state-sanctioned separation of races in American public schools is remembered as Brown v. Board of Education (of Topeka, Kan.), but the case had its roots in Clarendon County, in Summerton, when a small group of families made a simple request in 1947 for a bus to transport their children to the school several miles from their homes. The Clarendon County case is known as Briggs v. Elliott. In the 1940s, South Carolina's black children walked miles to school, many times past white schools closer to their homes; they sat in cold school buildings with little to no adequate heat, where children themselves had to search for wood to fill stove heaters; and they read from inadequate resources, like hand-me-down books from white schools that were outdated. In 1947, seven years before the Supreme Court made its landmark decision to end the practice of "separate, but equal" educational facilities for white and black children, Levi and Viola Pearson sent a simple letter to R.M. Elliott, the white superintendent of Summerton School District, and asked for a school bus. Three of their children had to walk more than 9 miles to a high school farther away than a white school where students had use of a bus. Twenty-one Clarendon families signed a petition demanding Elliott provide a bus when the Pearsons got a negative answer to their request. Elliott's answer was still no. The parents scrounged up their own transportation, a used bus, but Elliott still balked at providing gas for rides to and from the school. Levi, with the help of the Rev. J.A. DeLaine, took the unprecedented step of suing Elliott and the county school district to get only equal transportation, initially. Joined by more than 100 area residents, who met at the Historic Mount Zion AME Church to sign the final petition that year, the Pearsons knew they had a fight on their hands. "People came in like ants to sign," Viola Pearson told The Item in 2004. "Lord, they did! They were glad to sign it." The case was dismissed in 1948 when the local court ruled that the Pearsons lived in one district while their children went to school in another, despite knowing the Summerton school was the only high school in the area for their children to attend. Families sought the help of Thurgood Marshall and another case was eventually appealed to the Supreme Court, which joined the case with three others, including Brown v. Board of Education. Throughout all of it, the families who signed the initial petition were hassled by Clarendon's pro-segregation residents. Harry and Eliza Briggs, the namesake for the Summerton case, were fired from their jobs, and the DeLaine family ultimately left the state altogether due to harassment. But Levi and Viola stayed, though they couldn't get credit, farming equipment or even anyone to buy their wheat when they had it. Their kids, unable to get jobs themselves, had to move north and send money to their parents. "That's how we got money for food," Viola said in an Item file story. "But we never thought about leaving. We never did think of that." She said what she and her husband did was what the "Lord showed." "That's the way the Lord showed it to him," she said. "(Levi) just said, ‘I'm going to go out there and go do something for these poor little children, my little children.' And I'd say, ‘Levi, why you going out there to do that? You know how these people is, you not going to get nothing.' He'd say, ‘Viola, you can say what you want, but I'm going out and sue if it leads to my grave.' That's the words he said, and I never will forget that. And he did it, too. He suffered through it. He stood up like a man." In 2004, Viola said she felt respect from "white and black folk alike." She said she always looked to new generations to change minds and hearts. "I don't believe the young people are like (the old ones)," she said. "They play together so nice and good and enjoy it."   Posted in Local news, News on Wednesday, February 1, 2012 Viola C. Pearson MANNING -- Viola Clark Pearson, 102, widow of Levi Pearson Sr., died Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, at Clarendon Memorial Hospital, Manning. She was born Jan. 1, 1910, in the White Oak section of Manning, a daughter of the late Joe and Susan Boyle Clark. She received her education at the White Oak School. At an early age, she joined Triumph Church. After marriage, she moved her membership to Mt. Zion AME Church, where she was a faithful member. She was a member of the YWCA No. 10 and the Eastern Star. Survivors are three sons, Levi (Evangelist Clementine) Pearson Jr. and James Pearson, both of Manning, and Joseph (Alfonza) Pearson of Newark, N.J.; seven daughters, Virginia Lemon, Daisy Lewis, Mary Pearson, Ola Slappy and Vinell (John) Nelms, all of Manning, Elouise Wineglass of Hillside, N.J., and Carrie Jones of Newark; two sisters, Hattie Jenkins and Pauline Walker; 45 grandchildren; 75 great-grandchildren; 38 great-great-grandchildren; 21 great-great-great-grandchildren; and 11 great-great-great-great-grandchildren. Wake service will be held from 6 to 7 p.m. today at Hayes F. & LaNelle J. Samuels Sr. Memorial Chapel, 114 N. Church St., Manning. The remains will be placed in the church at 11 a.m. with services at noon Friday at Historic Mt. Zion AME Church, 6547 MW Rickenbaker Road, Summerton, with the Rev. Edward Roberts, pastor, presiding, the Rev. Albert Thompson, eulogist, assisting the Rev. Rufus Gaymon, the Rev. Dr. Willie Heggins II and the Rev. O'Donald Dingle. The family is receiving friends at the home, 1853 L&H Pearson Road, Manning. Online memorials may be sent to samuelsfuneralhome.com. These services have been entrusted to Samuels Funeral Home LLC of Manning. Posted in Obituaries on Thursday, February 2, 2012 Family, friends remember Civil Rights Pioneer Viola Pearson 0207 FRONT Viola Pearson File photoViola Clark Pearson said one of the proudest moments of her 102 years was accepting the Congressional Gold Medal in 2004 on behalf of her late husband, Levi Pearson. The couple set the desegregation of America's public schools in motion in the late 1940s with a simple request for a school bus to transport Summerton's black children to and from school each day. Robert J. Baker bbaker@theitem.com SUMMERTON - She went from living in a time with no telephone to the time where nearly everyone has a smart phone. She went from a time where schools in her hometown were separated based on race to a time where a black woman with a Ph.D. runs the school district that once fiercely opposed any change to that racial policy. "She was a woman who always went beyond the unexpected," said granddaughter Lori "Little Cookie" Pearson Hodge. "Even in her final days, she was not the routine patient. She had that Pearson tendency to never be predictable." Pearson died Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, at the age of 102, eight years after her late husband Levi and more than six decades after the couple made a simple request that would change the course of education in the county, state and nation. "She was the quiet strength behind her husband," said Clarendon County NAACP President Julius Adger Sr. "She supported his efforts at a better life for their children and for the community's children." Rep. Kevin Johnson, D-Manning, said that Pearson stood "beside her husband, not behind him" when he made a small request in 1947 for a school bus to carry Summerton's black children back and forth to a school almost 9 miles away from many of their homes. Many of the children had to walk an even longer journey daily to get to school, passing a white school along the way where white children were already using buses. The request was denied by R.M. Elliott, the white superintendent of the Summerton School District, even after the Pearsons and other families scrounged up their own bus and asked only that the district pay for gas. Levi Pearson filed a lawsuit that was thrown out a year later on a technicality, but the fight continued in the Briggs v. Elliott case that ultimately was subsumed with four other cases to form the groundbreaking Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kan., case that struck down separate, but equal school facilities across the nation. "We truly stand on their shoulders to see what we see today," said Manning NAACP Chairman Robert Fleming. "I'd like to thank Ms. Viola for doing something when others would not." Johnson agreed. "I think a lot of our problems today come from not having enough leaders who will sacrifice for the right things," he said. Sacrifice was something the Pearson family knew much about. After filing his own suit, Levi Pearson was shunned throughout Clarendon County; a farmer by trade, he couldn't get anyone to even sell him equipment, much less buy any crops he was able to grow. Viola Pearson told The Item and Clarendon Sun in 2004 that she remembers the Ku Klux Klan sitting at all corners of the couple's property, hoping to frighten them into submission. "When you look back at her life, all you can see is that she sacrificed herself for our community," said Hayes F. Samuels. "She wanted better not just for her own family, but for all of our families." While community leaders and family friends honored Pearson's contributions to the struggle against segregation in Clarendon County's public schools, her family and close friends remembered her as the loving, proud woman who always put family first. "I was just honored to be Mother Pearson's class leader," said church member Pauline Nelson. "She carried herself in a beautiful way and encouraged me to continue on, even when I was struggling. No matter what, she always told me to just 'Keep on praying.'" Nelson said Pearson always had a smile and a story for those who stopped by her home on L and H Pearson Road near Davis Station. "There was so much wisdom in her," Nelson said. "She just always had so much to give people." Granddaughter Doris Johnson joked that Pearson was the "cutest, nosiest little woman I ever met." "But, boy, could you keep a secret!" Johnson said. "She was just a grand woman, and I could stand up here all day and talk about her." Johnson spent time with Pearson at Clarendon Memorial Hospital during the matriarch's final days, reading her passages of scripture and opening the window blinds each morning so Pearson could see the sunlight, a favorite morning hobby. "When she left us, she had her arms spread to the heavens," Johnson said. "I would encourage the family to continue to spread your love as (she) spread her arms to the heavens that day." Hodge said her grandmother was a praying woman, and never gave up on anyone, no matter how lost the situation seemed. "She always prayed for me and brought me through a lot of hard times," Hodge said. "So many times we've seen our family healed. Grandma's prayers brought victory to the Pearson family." Survivors include three sons, Levi (Evangelist Clementine) Pearson Jr. and James Pearson, both of Manning, and Joseph (Alfonza) Pearson of Newark, N.J.; seven daughters, Virginia Lemon, Daisy Lewis, Mary Pearson, Ola Slappy and Vinell (John) Nelms, all of Manning, Elouise Wineglass of Hillside, N.J., and Carrie Jones of Newark; two sisters, Hattie Jenkins and Pauline Walker; 45 grandchildren; 75 great-grandchildren; 38 great-great-grandchildren; 21 great-great-great-grandchildren; and 11-great-great-great-great-grandchildren. For clips from Friday's memorial service, visit www.theitem.com/clarendon_sun. Posted in Clarendon sun on Tuesday, February 7, 2012
  _UID	0457301056B946A08FE0F35EDFDBC4D9A7AE
  _UID	0457301056B946A08FE0F35EDFDBC4D9A7AE
  Death	25 Jan 2012	Clarendon Memorial Hospital, Manning, Clarendon County, South Carolina   [1]
  Burial	3 Feb 2012	Historic Mt. Zion AME Church, 6547 MW Rickenbaker Road, Summerton, South Carolina   [2]
  	Samuels Funeral Home LLC of Manning, South Carolina Samuels Funeral Home LLC of Manning, South Carolina
  Person ID	I275429	Singleton and Related Families
  Last Modified	26 Feb 2012

  
  

  Father	Joe CLARK   d. Bef 25 Jan 2012
  Mother	Susan BOYLE   d. Bef 25 Jan 2012
  _UID	2FDC0957B49E4A56888188CAA2A6B06C1C10
  _UID	2FDC0957B49E4A56888188CAA2A6B06C1C10
  Family ID	F185318	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Levi PEARSON, Sr.   d. by Sep 2004
  Marriage	1930  [1]
  _UID	4640780A985E4277ABB2CFA773FA5469B43D
  _UID	4640780A985E4277ABB2CFA773FA5469B43D
  Children	1. Levi PEARSON, Jr.   2. James PEARSON   3. Joseph PEARSON   4. Virginia PEARSON   5. Daisy PEARSON   6. Mary PEARSON   7. Ola PEARSON   8. Vinell PEARSON   9. Elouise PEARSON   10. Carrie JONES
  Family ID	F185317	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	4 Feb 2012

  
  

• Sources

  [S17388] Viola Clark Pearson * 1910-2012. [S17389] Viola C. Pearson. [S17474] Family, friends remember - Civil Rights Pioneer.