After having completed the first four years of his Primary schooling at St. Rose’s Convent in La Rochelle, Graham then went to Marist Brothers College, Koch Street in Doornfontein at the age of nine. As they lived in Hill Extension in the Southern Suburbs, this entailed travelling by bus into the city and then a tram to Koch Street. During Graham’s four years at Koch Street, he was in the same class as Brother Neil McGurk, who also came there from St. Roses Convent, but he then subsequently went to the Marist Novitiate in Hibberdene in Natal to complete his studies.
Graham’s parents worked on the Parent Teachers Association at Koch Street raising funds for the purchase of the ground in Linmeyer for Marian College, which they hoped he could attend at the completion of Standard 6, as Koch Street was only a Primary school. Unfortunately, this did not come about and in 1955, Graham transferred to Marist Brothers College, Observatory to complete my senior schooling to Matriculation. In his Matric year, he played first team cricket and attended Saturday school that the Brothers started.
Graham matriculated in 1958 and thus never saw Marian College, Linmeyer until his two sons, Grant and Gary Pearson, were able to attend from Grade 1 until Matric. He joined the Board of Governors in 1981 and acted as Chairman from 1984 to 1986, a time when the school went through a very difficult period and almost had to close down. The school was saved when the Government agreed to partially pay a subsidy to private schools. At the beginning of this year, the Marist tradition was kept alive when Graham’s two grandsons, Liam and Byron started at Marist Brothers Linmeyer which pleased him greatly.
He and his wife have since been taken on a tour of the school and could hardly believe how the school has prospered from such humble beginnings to what it is now – a prestigious Catholic Independent School in the south of Johannesburg.
In the photo above, it’s three generations of the Pearson family; Liam (Grade 6 Student), Byron (Grade 7 student), Grant (Class of 1986) and Graham Pearson (Class of 1958).
