Justice Vernon Pearson was born and raised in North Dakota. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Jamestown College in 1947, after serving four years in the United States Navy.

Pearson graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1950 then went to the University of Washington to participate in teaching a new course, “Legal research and writing.” From 1951-52 he was attorney-advisor for the regional office of Price Stabilization. The regional counsel under who he worked was a former distinguished Justice of this court, William J. Steinert.

For the next 17 years Justice Pearson was in the private practice of law in Tacoma with Davies, Person, Anderson and Pearson, where he had considered trial and appellate practice. During this period he served as president of the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association and for several years as a bar examiner for the Washington State Bar Association, and was elected to the WSBA Board of Governors in 1969.

The same year, Governor Daniel J. Evans appointed Justice Pearson as one of the twelve members of the new Court of Appeals. Justice Pearson served four years as Chief Judge of Division II and was presiding Chief Judge of the court of Appeals in 1979. Pearson was appointed to the Supreme court in January of 1982 and elected later that year. In 1987, he became the chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

During his judicial career, Justice Pearson also served on the Washington State Selective Service Appeal Board, was an adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Puget Sound Law School, was on the Washington State Judicial Council, and served on various other committees working toward improvement of the judicial system. He was a member of the Appellate Judges Conference of the American Bar Association and the American Judicature Society. He was also a fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

In civic affairs, Justice Pearson has served on the Tacoma School Board, the Washington State Board of Education and the Mt. Rainer Council, Boy Scouts of America. He is a past president of the Kiwanis Club of Northwest Tacoma and of the Tacoma Little Theatre.

Justice Person and his wife, Jean (Robertson) Pearson, Class of 1944, had four children.