138412037.jpg &&& WHEN STEVEN PEARSON made a funny crack - which he did frequently - it took you a second or two to realize he was being funny because he always delivered his lines with a straight face.
"He was very funny," said his wife, the former Catherine Armstrong. "After he said something funny you'd say to yourself, 'I don't believe he just said that' He always had something funny to say."
Steve Pearson, 47, a driver for the Daily News and Inquirer for eight years and a devoted family man who liked to take his kids fishing in the lakes and streams of South Jersey, was killed Thursday morning in a rural area of Woodstown, N.J., while delivering the papers.
Something made him lose control of his truck and it plunged into a wooded area and struck a tree. He died of head trauma.
"Nobody is sure what happened," his wife said. "It could have been that some animal, maybe a deer, ran in front of him and he swerved to avoid it."
It's unlikely anyone will ever know because Centerton Road, on which he was driving, is in a rural area and there apparently were no witnesses.
Steve had made his last delivery about 6 a.m. at a store; the wreck wasn't found until about 8.
"Steve was a great worker," said James Gregory, vice president of circulation for Philadelphia Media Holdings LLC. "He worked hard every day. He was one of the good ones.
"He was quiet. He came in and did his job. We have a great group of drivers, and everybody is devastated."
Steve was born in Rancocas, N.J., to Joseph and the late Doris Pearson, and graduated from Rancocas High School. He worked for a time for the state, taking care of special-needs people in New Lisbon, N.J.
After that, he worked for the A&L Septic Co., of Lumberton, before joining the Daily News and Inquirer.
His wife has worked in the papers' mail room for 25 years.
"He was very loving, very compassionate, very kind," said his wife of eight years. "He was a big NASCAR fan, and loved to take the kids fishing."
He was a member of Lumberton Fire Company No. 1, and Teamsters Local 628.
Steve also liked to chill out at Ocean City, N.J. In fact, the family just returned from there last Monday.
Besides his wife and father, he is survived by four daughters, Eva McCallin and Ashley, Jennifer and Mary Catherine Pearson; a son, Matthew Pearson; four brothers, Kenneth and Timmy Pearson, and John and Thomas Serechia; two sisters, June Benedict and Terrie Conover; and two grandchildren.
Services: Funeral Mass 11 a.m. Wednesday at St. Mary's Church, Gloucester, N.J. Friends may call at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Gardner Funeral Home, 126 S. Black Horse Pike, Runnemede, and at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the church. Burial will be in St. Mary's Cemetery, Bellmawr.