Larry Lee Pierson

Larry Lee Pierson, 85, of Palestine, IL, passed away on Sunday, May 3, 2026, at Robinson Rehab & Nursing. He was born on March 5, 1941, in Palestine, the son of Charles Edward Pierson and Ocie May (Bogard) Pierson. He was one of seven children, but as the youngest by a full decade, he was practically raised as an only child. Times were lean—there were periods when the family didn't even have electricity—and when Larry's father died while Larry was still a teenager, he took on the care of his mother. It wasn't a temporary arrangement. He looked after her for the rest of her life, and the bond between them was one of the deepest he would ever know.

From a young age, it was evident that Larry was sharp. There's no simpler way to say it. His mind was procedural and meticulous, always reaching for how things worked and why. In high school, he built his own radio station and broadcast from it until the authorities showed up and told him to turn it off. He and his buddy Lance Herning once tried to make rocket fuel in the chemistry lab, an endeavor that ended with an explosion and shattered every window in the room! That curiosity never left him. It just found new outlets.

After high school, he started working at Mullen's Dressing, then moved into TV repair in the 1960s and '70s. By the mid-'70s, he had opened his own repair shop and would run it for the next few years. During that same stretch, he hired on with C.I.P.S. (which became Ameren) at the Hutsonville Power Plant, where he worked as an operator for over twenty-five years. Larry proved to be a hard and diligent worker, though he'd be the first to tell you he was ready when retirement finally came in 2002. He loved working, but he loved working on his own terms even more.

Retirement gave Larry room to give himself more fully to his various interests. He took up gardening and gave it the same careful attention he gave everything. He was a devoted animal lover who adored his cats and fed the backyard squirrels so generously they could barely waddle. But the natural world couldn't hold a candle to his love of all things technology. When personal computers started showing up in the 1980s, Larry saw the future in them before almost anyone else did. He went all-in, and for the better part of two decades, he was the person everyone called when they couldn't figure out their computer or a new piece of tech. His usual diagnosis, delivered with calm authority, was "It's kinda tricky." He stayed on the cutting edge of electronics and technology for the rest of his life.

That brilliant, exacting mind of his came with its own particular set of rhythms. Larry was a list-maker who treated every list like a set of military orders: followed to the letter, no exceptions. Every clock in the house read the exact same time. His clothes were folded into precise squares and stored just so. Everything had its place, and everything was in it. His mind simply worked differently than most people's, and the people who loved him understood that well.

His wife, Diana, came to know those rhythms better than anyone. The two were married on December 22, 1962, and in their younger years, they went out dancing and traveled together, even embarking on some international trips. However, as Larry got older, he pulled more and more inward. But even then, if he discovered something new—some gadget, some idea—he wanted to share it. And every Christmas, that impulse to share took over completely. He went all out, buying gifts and bags of candy for his family to enjoy. In fact, the holidays weren't the holidays until his coffee table was covered in sweets (though naturally, they were meticulously arranged).

Larry grew more private as the years went on, and he wasn't always the easiest person to reach. But devotion doesn't always look the way people expect it to. When Diana suffered a heart attack in 2000, Larry retired from Ameren not long after and stayed by her side through every hard year that followed. She preceded him in death on August 2, 2019. He was also preceded in death by his parents; all six of his siblings; and his son, Eric Pierson, who passed away on June 17, 2025.

Larry is survived by his son & daughter-in-law, Chris & Heather Pierson; his daughter-in-law, Bobbi Pierson; his grandchildren, Nicholas & Maddie Pierson, Delaney Pierson, Aiden Pierson, Colton Pierson, and Adalyn Pierson; and several nieces and nephews.

A graveside service will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, May 8, 2026, at Pleasant View Cemetery, with Celebrant Curt Goodwine officiating. In honor of his love of animals, the family requests memorials be made to the Crawford County Humane Society. The Goodwine Funeral Home in Palestine is assisting the family at this time.