Pearson Bequest to Fund Lower Improvements

By Jack McClenahan

Ojai Valley School gratefully announces a gift of $225,000 from the trust of Alan F. Pearson (L55). It is among the largest bequests to the school and, paired with a previous distribution from the Pearson estate, will provide the seed money for an attractive new entrance and solar array for the Lower Campus.

Mr. Pearson’s estate significantly funded the renovation of the historic Founder’s Woodshop and the addition of a new and expanded arts center at the Lower Campus, appropriately named the Alan F. Pearson Center of the Arts, which was dedicated in 2015.

“I am deeply grateful for Alan’s thoughtful planned giving and his generous support,” said OVS President/ CEO Michael J. Hall-Mounsey. “Taken together, his contributions have greatly improved the Lower Campus and will continue to do so for years to come.”

Having been adopted by loving parents, Mr. Pearson grew up in Camarillo with “an ever-present inviting friendliness,” according to classmate Bill Wilmer (L55).

“Alan was a handsome, blond, super friendly, athletic guy who did what OVS expected us all to do: become a good person and have fun doing it,” Wilmer wrote in a remembrance to his classmate. “He was like a brother we all loved and respected.”

Mr. Pearson attended Ojai Valley School from 1951 through 1955 for grades six to nine. At that time, there was not yet an Upper Campus, and what we now call Lower Campus was simply Ojai Valley School, which went through ninth grade.

He then graduated from Oxnard High School and attended Utah State University, where he received a Bachelor’s of Science in Agriculture and Business. An avid outdoorsman, Mr. Pearson began his real estate career in Sun Valley, Idaho. He lived briefly in Ventura, but he thought people drove “like maniacs” on the freeways and returned to a Idaho, to, as Mr. Wilmer recalls, “live in the slow lane doing what he loved: buying and selling ranch properties.”

Through the years, Mr. Pearson was a loyal OVS alumnus and consistent Annual Fund donor. In 2007, he created the Alan F. Pearson Trust, which named Ojai Valley School as its ultimate and sole beneficiary. This bequest became effective when he died of natural causes in July 2012, at age 71. Ojai Valley School began receiving regular cash distributions of the estate from the periodic sale of residential building lots he had owned in an Idaho subdivision.

Although Mr. Pearson left no directions on how the funds from his estate should be used, the school has felt that, as an alumnus of Lower Campus, his legacy should be honored by directing the funds to Lower Campus projects. Among the most critical of those projects is now a safer, more efficient drop-off and pickup area for students.

The West Entry Improvement and Solar Installation Project will significantly reduce traffic congestion, improve parking and pedestrian access, and beautify the campus with graceful new walkways and native landscaping. At the heart of the plan is a proposed solarcovered parking structure and electric car-charging station. The array will shade the existing parking area at the west entrance of campus while generating power and teaching children about renewable energy.

As a California Green Ribbon School, OVS has been recognized as a leader among independent schools for its commitment to environmental sustainability. This includes a curriculum that embraces experiential learning, outdoor education, and teaches students across the grades to be responsible stewards of their environment.

The project will be phased and, once additional funding is available, will include plans for a new administrative building near the existing sixth-grade classrooms.

“The school was greatly improved with the addition of the Pearson Center for the Arts, and now the new West Entrance will bookend the campus with a consistent look and feel that will improve the safety, security, and sustainability of the school for years to come,” Mr. Hall-Mounsey said.

“It seems only fitting,” he added, “that an alumnus regarded by his classmates for his friendliness is now providing a much-needed and attractive improvement that will warmly welcome students, parents, alumni, and visitors to the school.”