Note: This message was originally sent on June 23, 2023
On this day in 1944, just two days after the Feast Day of Gonzaga University’s namesake, Saint Aloysius, Don Pearson (’66) was born. The little boy who ran around Spokane’s South Hill and strolled the halls of Hutton Elementary grew into a Lewis & Clark High School teen fascinated by antiques and architecture, and later, a Zag transformed by his time on Gonzaga’s campuses in Spokane and Florence, Italy. For more than 40 years, he served the youth of the Spokane community with a love just like that of St. Al. — it would be an understatement to say that the world is a much, much, much better place because Don Pearson was in it.
For this, what would have been his 79th birthday, we are celebrating the legacy of Don Pearson, whose ultimate gift has aligned amazing things on the horizon for Gonzaga University and its students.
Read Don’s story here, and hum a verse of “Happy Birthday” for him and his family today (you can take that as permission to eat cake, too!). God bless you, Don….we carry your spirit and story forward….thank you for honoring GU and the importance of the work we undertake for our students and the communities and professions they serve/will serve.