Idyllwild has lost two icons to COVID-19

On Sept. 2, they celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary, having married in 1961 in Lake Arrowhead Community Church.

But it was this Hill where they spent most of their married life working, volunteering, living and raising their four children Steven, Bonnie, Brian and Martha. Michael Alan Pearson, 83, and Emily Martha Pearson, 78, succumbed to COVID-19 within a day of each other — Emily on Tuesday, Sept. 28, and Mike the following day — according to a close family friend’s Facebook post.

Mike was born in March 1938 to Marvin and Helen Pearson and grew up in Janesville, Wisconsin. He became a speed skater, competing throughout high school.

A fortuitous meeting with Olympic legend and movie star Chuck Haines led Mike to follow Chuck to the Lake Arrowhead area to work on new, world-class ice-skating facilities. Emily Martha Samenfeld, born Sept. 8, 1943, to Walter and Eleanor Samenfeld, attended Rim of the World High School in 1961 in Lake Arrowhead and her bus stop was right next to where Mike worked.

They married that year and Mike began working for his father-in-law’s carpet business in Oceanside where the couple chose to reside. But 10 years later in 1971, they moved to Idyllwild to escape the population density.

Emily became involved in the community while Mike commuted 86 miles one-way to his job at his father-in-law’s carpet store in Oceanside for the next eight or nine years.

According to Town Crier records, while raising her children in the 1970s, Emily ran a school for preschoolers called the Idyllwild Playschool. She also helped found and lead a Junior Girl Scout Troop.

Emily gave annual seventh-grade graduation parties for years in the 1970s and 1980s, and helped cook and play in the water for seventh graders at their annual Swim Party. She chaperoned students for field trips and drove junior high school football players to their games in Hemet, taking them for pizza afterward.

While Emily was working and volunteering, Mike was learning to trim and fall trees so he could work on the Hill. In 1979, Mike and Emily opened Pearson Wood Service that still exists today. As Mike had to slow down with age, Ray Johnston, Martha’s husband, now runs it.

Emily became assistant manager and then manager at The Chart House in the 1980s, which is maybe where she learned her training to cook and serve tables at the Red Kettle, which she later co-owned with Mike, Martha and Shane Stewart from 2007 to 2011; co-owned the Lumber Mill with Shane in 2007; and later opened Mountain Center Café in 2013 with Martha.

“How tragic to lose Emily and Mike Pearson,” said former Town Crier Assistant Editor Ingrid Wolfe. “The two of them were such giving people. I haven’t seen them in many years, but I remember the days when Emily worked at Jan’s Red Kettle. She was always cheerful and energetic.”

Emily was a tireless volunteer. She served as a board member of the anti-drug group New Image in 1986. She volunteered with Soroptimist International of Idyllwild and at Idyllwild School for decades. She was an Idyllwild Association of Realtors officer after becoming a Realtor herself.

“Emily, through the Board of Realtors, would each year collect money each meeting for the other Realtors and then go purchase food for the [Idyllwild Help Center] or she would give the money to the IHC and Skye [Zambrana] and I would go purchase the food,” said IHC Executive Director Colleen Meyer.

“The last time she was able to facilitate this was after the Cranston Fire. Her focus was always about making sure every client had enough food. We will miss her so very much and the champion she always was for the IHC. She did this at the school with the teachers and always made sure the kids had snacks so they wouldn’t be hungry.”

Leann Booher said, “One of my favorite early Idyllwild memories was riding in Emily’s truck when we were house hunting. She was the perfect companion for us in finding a spot to call home on the Hill. She worked tirelessly, was so thoughtful in attention to the details that mattered to us, and she was incredibly accommodating in making our first home buying experience as smooth as possible.

“I loved how she always picked up the phone or always called back. She had heart, spirit, and will be sorely missed. We’re so grateful to have known her.”

Since 1989 until its demise in 2006, Mike volunteered to care for the Idyllwild Tree Monument Jonathan LaBenne carved from an old tree in the center of South Circle Drive near Fern Valley Road that Mike had donated. He not only raised maintenance money through fundraisers but he took care of the work himself.

“Mike played a big part in the construction of the Tree Monument that helped bring the town together,” Ingrid said. “I worked with their son, Brian, at the Town Crier when he was our photographer. It wasn’t an easy job in those days when we still relied on 35 mm cameras and developing film in the dark room on deadline. But I could tell his folk taught him well. When frustrations abounded, Brian pressed on.”

Pearson Wood Service has sponsored many local sports teams over the years. Mike donated the wood for the Idyllwild Skate Park sign that Colin Smith carved and painted in 2006.

Mike, Ray and a crew worked in Louisiana and Texas during 2008 to help those areas recover from hurricanes Gustav and Ike. He took a respite to make it back home in time for his annual Santa Claus appearance at the Tree Lighting Ceremony.

In 2009, Emily and Mike volunteered to help save the dying trees at Jo’An’s Restaurant (now Idypark).

As to Mike’s expertise with trees, Jayne Davis said, “Shortly after moving to Idyllwild some 21 years ago, our cat, Danny, became stuck in a very tall pine tree on our property. For two or three days we called to him, sent baskets up with fresh tuna, anything to coax him down to no avail. We started making phone calls.

“Someone suggested Mike Pearson who had helped them in the past. His response was ‘I used to rescue cats, but no more. Not to worry though, they always come down on the seventh day.’ So, we carried on as Danny howled and crows pecked at him.

“And then, on the seventh day as I was puttering about in the kitchen, I heard a faint scratching at the front door. I opened it and there he was, thin and weak. Wow, what a prophesy.”

Wildfires threatened the Pearsons’ homes more than once, the Center Fire in 1981 and the Cranston Fire in 2019. In each, they lost property but carried on.

With all that they did to contribute to the community over the years, the Pearsons were most loved for portraying Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus for years, arriving on an Idyllwild Fire engine at the annual Tree Lighting Ceremony, Santa patiently listening to children’s Christmas wishes while Mrs. Claus handed out treats.

“I was saddened and frustrated to hear of the passing of Mike and Emily,” said Mike Taggart. “I met them in the early ’80s and purchased my first chain saw from Mike.“I remember my first Tree Lighting Ceremony and recognizing Emily as ‘the sweet waitress from Jan’s’ when she and Mike arrived as Mr. and Mrs. Claus.

“Mike certainly mellowed through the years, and Emily became sweeter —something I didn’t think possible. I last saw Mike a couple of years ago at Mountain Center Café. We had a wonderful breakfast chat. They will be missed by all whose lives they touched.”

Both were recognizable figures in town — Mike, with his suspenders, Santa belly and big bushy beard while Emily’s petite frame was often scurrying across North Circle Drive between Idyllwild Realty buildings with a cellphone against her ear.

“One day in the summer of 2009, I ran into Mikey at the post office,” said former resident Nancy Layton. “He asked me why I was wearing a mask. I told him I was going through chemo for bone marrow cancer and needed to protect myself as much as possible. He said, ‘Wow, Nance, I had no idea. How are you doing?’ I said, ‘Better, now I see your smiling face.’ He opened his strong arms wide and said, ‘Are you too sick for a Mikey hug?’ To which I replied, ‘Never!’

“I was fortunate to get another Mikey hug at the Rotary barbecue, just last month. He spoke then of living one minute at a time. I told him that he helped me learn that back in 2009 and I have never forgotten his amazing hugs.”

Ingrid added, “I can’t imagine what grief everyone must be experiencing. I know the Pearson family will be loved through all of this and I hope they know that people are thinking about them fondly, even from far way.”