Kathleen V. Pierson

ST. ALBANS, W. Va. - Kathleen V. Pierson died on May 24, 2018, in St. Albans, West Virginia. She was 101 years old.

Mrs. Pierson was born on Oct. 23, 1916, in Bladon, Oxfordshire, England, the third and youngest child of Arthur and Nellie Wilkinson. After leaving school at 14, she worked at various places in Oxford and London before returning to Bladon.

There, she married a former schoolmate, Harry Timms, with whom she had two children. Some time after he was killed in North Africa in early 1941, she took up work in an Oxford munitions factory, making radiators for tanks.

It was while visiting American soldiers in hospital that she met Dwight Pierson, who was serving with the American 9th Air Force. They were married on July 15, 1944, in Woodstock, near Oxford.

With her two children, she immigrated to America with several hundred other war brides on the Queen Mary, which docked in New York on Easter Sunday, 1946. Then she and the children traveled on to Billings, where Mrs. Pierson joined her husband.

The two pooled resources and energies, and set about building a home on a plot of land her husband had bought on what is now Lewis Avenue, just beyond 22nd Street West, the first in the subdivision. The family moved into the house in July 1947 before there were streets or electricity, water, gas and sewer connections. But there was an acre of garden. Since then, Mrs. Pierson lived in the family home and tended her garden, which had to get smaller with her advancing years. Health concerns caused her to move to St. Albans in 2012 to live with her daughter and son-in-law. Earlier this spring, she was thumbing through seed catalogues.

During much of her working life, Mrs. Pierson was active in retail sales in stores such as Scheels Hardware downtown, Hart-Albin and Montague's Jewelers.

In addition, she served for many years and well into her 80s as a Pink Lady at St. Vincent Hospital in Billings.

Mrs. Pierson is survived by three children, Ramon Pierson (Dorothea) of West Sussex, England, Sheila Stutler (Bill) of St. Albans and Carolyn Rukstad (Gale) of Billings; plus six grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren and six great-great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband and two grandsons.

Cremation has taken place. Memorial services will be at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 20, at the St. Vincent Healthcare Chapel.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Hospice, Pink Ladies at St. Vincent Healthcare or charity of choice.