Richard Duane (Dick) Mears
Richard Duane Mears passed away on April 20, 2002 in Phoenix, AZ at Arizona Heart Hospital, following a five day illness.
 
Dick was born on March 6, 1937 to Ambrose Martin and Caroline Elizabeth Sorrels Mears in Cushing, OK.  He grew up in Cushing, where he was active in the Westminster Fellowship at the First Presbyterian Church.  He attended school in Cushing and graduated from Cushing High School with the class of 1955.
 
Following high school, he attended Oklahoma State University (which was then A&M) where he was active in the band, graduating with a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1960.  From college he was employed by McDonald Douglas in California.
 
Dick joined the Air Force and went to OCS, spending four years, with quite a lot of the time working in a missile silo near Topeka, KS.  McDonald Douglas held his job open and he went back and worked for them in their missle program until 1975.   He then went to work for Hughes Aircraft, also in California.  Following that he became an employee of Raytheon.  While in California he made many lasting friendships.  Some of the families still get together at Lake Mojave, a couple of times a year.  Even after he moved to Arizona, he would join them there. 
 
He had a boat on the ocean and was active in the Power Suadron, teaching boating and celestial navigation.  For many years he lived in Garden Grove, CA and became friends with Doug and Tom Maddux.  Their son, Ben, became almost like a son to Dick.  In 1995 he was transferred to Bristol, RI where he immediately bought an oceangoing boat and joined the Yacht Club.  There he worked with the Navy on a missle program.
 
Less than two years before retiring, he requested a transfer to Tucson, AZ as he knew he wanted to retire there because he wanted a houseboat on Lake Powell.  He chose Prescott, AZ for retirement and got his houseboat on Lake Powell.  He became interested in astronomy, bought a telescope and became active in the Astronomy Club in Prescott.
 
Dick was very outgoing and made real friends wherever he went because he was a true friend.  He loved and took pride in being part of a large family, being the youngest of eight.  He not only kept in touch with his sisters and brothers and in-laws, but also his nieces and nephews, who will miss him very much.
 
He was preceded in death by his parents and one nephew.  He is survived by two brothers, Glen and Mary Mears, Tulsa, OK; and Robert and Paula Mears, Sherman, TX;  five sisters, Emelyn Tolan Rockville, MD; Geneva Mason, Fairview Heights, IL; Norma Hermanstorfer, Shalimar, FL; Helen and Ray Price, Alexandra, VA; and Joyce and Dan Cargill, Dewey, OK.

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