Mom: Slain soldier 'best son in the whole world'

Michael Pearson was "the best son in the whole world," his mother said Friday as grieving family members talked about the 21-year-old Bolingbrook man gunned down a day earlier at Fort Hood.

Sheryll Pearson, pausing occasionally to hold back tears, said she and her youngest son had such a close bond that they could spend the whole evening together just talking and laughing.

"He was the best son in the whole world, a good student, a good friend," she said, standing outside the family's Bolingbrook townhome, surrounded by family members and supported by her husband, Jeff. "He was my best friend and I miss him."

The family -- which includes Pearson's two brothers and a sister -- were told Thursday evening that he had been slain in the violent outburst that erupted at the Texas military base where Pearson was stationed.

The news shattered his family -- which had been eagerly looking forward to him returning home for Christmas before an expected overseas deployment in January.

"I was just shocked because I was...preparing for him to come home for Christmas and I knew he would probably be deployed in January," his mother said. "This was just amazing to me. It still doesn't seem real to me."

Pearson joined the U.S. Army in October 2008 and had been training with an engineering unit to learn how to defuse explosives and roadside bombs, his family said.

A 2006 graduate of Bolingbrook High School, Pearson joined the military to serve his country and "do something with his life," his mother said.

"He wanted to serve his country, he wanted to get an education, he wanted to travel and he just wanted to do something with his life and he didn't think he could do that just staying here," she said.

Pearson, a private first class, enjoyed being in the Army, his mother said.

"He was proud of what he was doing. He said sometimes it was hard, but for the most part, he wanted to do what he was doing," Sheryll Pearson said.

Her son was a talented musician who played the guitar and piano -- and also loved spending time with his parents and family.

"He loved art, he loved to play his guitar, he loved to play guitar with his father, he loved to go to the movies with his father," his mother said.

Pearson loved rock and roll, wrote his own songs and idolized guitarist Jimi Hendrix, said his cousin, Mike Dostalek.

"He was a prolific song-writer, he was a virtuoso guitarist," Dostalek said. "Jimi Hendrix was his idol and he looked a little like him when he played."

But Pearson was content to spend time at home with his family, relatives said.

When his dad worked at night, he would often just stay home with his mother, she recalled.

"We would just sit up and talk all night long," Sheryll Pearson said. "He went to school, he went to work and he came home. He was a good boy."

Pearson's mother wouldn't discuss alleged gunman Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, saying the family's thoughts are with those harmed by the attack.

"Our prayers are with all of the other families that are going through this," Sheryll Pearson said.

But Dostalek referred to him indirectly, saying he believes Hasan acted out of "fear and cowardice."

"The overriding theme today is that this has happened so senselessly because of fear and cowardice. He did a disgrace to our country," said Dostalek, 31.