Longtime Hardwick area residents Wes and Patti Pierson will be featured in Saturday evening’s Hardwick Jubilee Days parade.
Anna Haas, representing the Community Club, asked the Piersons if they would do the honor.
“They have been a staple in this community for many, many years and have been actively involved with the community as a whole,” Haas said.
Wes Pierson and Patti Kirby both grew up in the Hardwick area, attended grade school in Hardwick through eighth grade, and graduated from Luverne High School in 1958 and 1963 respectively.
They married, moved away, had three children and forged careers elsewhere before returning to Patti’s childhood home outside of Hardwick decades later in retirement.
Each has fond memories of Hardwick’s frequent holiday celebrations and activities such as city crews piling snow on Main Street for tobogganing, years of playing fast pitch softball and ultimately meeting each other.
“Activities in Hardwick were awfully good,” Patti recalled. “It was fun, fun times.”
Wes, now 81, met Patti when he was 19 and delivering eggs to the Kirby family a couple miles east of Hardwick.
“I asked her mom if I could take her out — if I had someone chaperone us — and she told me to come back when Pat was 16 (which was a couple of years away). So, I did. I think her dad thought I would forget about her,” Wes said.
The couple married in 1964 (when Patti turned 19) in the Blue Mound Lutheran Church south of Hardwick.
The day after the wedding, they left for Camp Huachuca in Arizona, where Wes began his three-year stint in the Army. They later moved to Washington, D.C., where Wes finished his military service at the Pentagon.
In the military, Wes was a computer operations specialist, a career he pursued with IBM in Minneapolis and the Minnesota League of Credit Unions until his retirement in 2003.
Patti often found employment with each of Wes’ employers, including his retirement years at Glen’s Food Center and Teal’s Market, where he worked in accounting and she was a cashier.
The couple has experienced some health setbacks, most recently with Patti undergoing chemo treatments for ovarian cancer.
They’re no strangers to hardships and heartache, however, after all three of their children have died over the years – Michelle in infancy in 1967, Allen in a motorcycle accident in 1990, and Suzanne from cancer in 2011.
The Piersons have two adult grandchildren who live in Seattle.
The Hardwick community has embraced the Piersons. They most recently help the couple with mowing and other chores at their acreage.
The 7 p.m. parade featuring the Piersons on Saturday is among several events planned for Jubilee Days.
Jubilee events kick off Saturday afternoon with a 1 p.m. bean bag tournament. Other events include:
•A cruise-in from 2 to 4 p.m. on Main Street.
•Community meal from 2 to 10 p.m. at the Green Lantern Bar back patio.
•Axe throwing begins at 4 p.m.
•Free inflatables from 4 to 7 p.m.
•Face painting from 4 to 7 p.m.
•Music on Main with Ron and Jane Cote from 5 to 7 p.m.
•Pedal pull from children ages 4 to 11 begins after the parade.
•Hay bale toss for guys and gals also begins after the parade.
•Live music by Casey Muessigman is from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Jubilee Days concludes Sunday with an outdoor community worship service at 10:30 a.m. at the Zion Lutheran Church parking lot. Attendees are asked to bring lawn chairs.