Doug Pearson was known on the Alabama Gulf Coast for being a talented carpenter and musician and is remembered most for his laid-back approach and friendly, funny personality.

Pearson lost a two-and-a-half-year battle with brain cancer Oct. 4, 2021. He and loving life partner, Michele Marie Martineau, were precisely that working side by side at job sites and on the stage performing at local venues as Hot Sand 2.0. Pearson played guitar and did some singing and Martineau kept the crowd going with her dancing, singing and just plain having fun that swept up the audience. She played congas and passed out tambourines, shakers and sticks to let the audience participate.

The couple met in 2003 when Pearson moved to the Gulf Coast to a change in latitude and attitude from his native Wisconsin and they were almost instantly in love and inseparable for 18 years.

He leaves behind a legacy of well-built homes in several states where he ran his own construction companies. A celebration of Pearson life was Oct. 9, 2021, in Fox Lake, Illinois followed by a lakeside sunset toast in his honor.