Pierre

Pierre came to the United States from South Africa, after his wife died.  He worked hard and eventually bought some land in East Texas, where he announced that he would grow grapes and make wine.  All the agricultural experts told him that he was crazy because grapes would not grow and/or they would be diseased and unfit, especially if planted European grapes.  Pierre didn’t listen.  He
went ahead and did what he set out to do, with techniques that now enable others to grow grapes too.

Since the 1980s, he established not only the winery but a convention center, bed and breakfast, restaurant and even a RV park.  Everything is first class.  That was the Pierre way.  He died a week ago at the age of 61.

He was well known for his kindness and generosity.  Among all the things he did for the area was to support facilities and activities for adults with special needs.   My granddaughter goes to a facility that received a lot of benefits from Pierre.  That facility ran a full page ad in the Tyler, TX paper to honor Pierre.

Pierre was loved because he loved, and showed it to others everyday.  I know that when my daughter would call him and ask for help on something, he would simply say, “Take what you need.”

There will be a memorial for Pierre this week at the convention center on his estate.  His remains were cremated.  To honor him, he received a special police escort from the funeral home back to his estate.  One of his daughters said she told the escort officers that Pierre had a problem with driving.  He always drove too fast.  Then she said, “I know that it is unusual and you probably can’t do it, but if you could have the procession bump it up to about 90 miles per hour, dad sure would enjoy the ride.” 

Can you imagine a procession running at 90 miles per hour, lead and followed by police cars.  No officer in his right mind could do that.

All I can say is, “Pierre enjoyed the ride.”

RIP Pierre

©2016