Thomas R. Sear

July 12 1936 – March 31, 2010

Thomas Ray Sear was born July 12, 1936 on the kitchen table in his family home located in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was the first of three children born to Kenneth Kingslow and Mary Elizabeth Sear. His early memories are of riding the trolley all by himself down to the theater in downtown Salt Lake to watch the Saturday matinee and hunting rabbits and other little creatures out in the fields behind his neighborhood with his .22 rifle. He was raised in a military family and consequently moved 22 times in his childhood. He was living with his family in Hawaii near Schofield army base when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He remembers his father hearing the airplanes and running outside to see the Japanese aircraft flying over their house. He was 5 years old at the time and remembers clearly being bussed passed the burning ships to get onboard the ship that would bring his family back to the United States. His family eventually settled in Colton, California.

When Tom was 16 years old he was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He met and fell in love with Maxine McCauley while serving as president of his seminary class. After graduating from Colton high school in 1954 he immediately joined the Air Force and headed down to Texas for basic training. While there, he realized that he didn’t want to take the risk of losing his high school sweetheart so he asked Maxine to marry him. They were married December 27, 1954 and later sealed for time and all eternity in the Meza, Arizona temple. They moved to Denver, Colorado where Tom continued to serve in the Air Force and received training in electronics. Upon discharge Tom took his little family back to Colton, California and began working for Marquart. When Tom began working for General Dynamics the family moved to Pomona, California. He attended night classes at Cal Poly Technical College for 9 years to earn a BA degree in Journalism. The family enjoyed hiking the many trails on Mount Baldy, trips to the beach and Disneyland, the Planetarium, visits to the grandparents and water fights with their Dad.

Tom authored trade articles for magazines such as Popular Science and Popular Mechanics. He also wrote a mathematic textbook. In 1971 he decided it was time to move his family out of southern California and accepted a position with the Federal Aviation Administration working at the Grant County Airport in Moses Lake, Washington. He worked for the FAA for 30 years. He also taught classes part time in physics, mathematics and electronics for 15 years in the Aviation program at Big Bend Community College.

His career in electronics led to a hobby of building electronic devices such as computers, TV’s, clocks, radios, etc. and repairing a wide variety of household gadgets for his family. Another hobby that he enjoyed was being a Ham Radio operator. He learned how to fly and certified in scuba diving as well. He enjoyed sciences of all kinds; astronomy, history, ancient cultures and future discoveries. He was an avid reader and never stopped learning anything and everything he could. He instilled his love of music and the fine arts in his children from their early childhood and encouraged them in their own musical development. He was his children’s greatest fan and a quiet supporter in all of their activities.

Tom was preceded in death by his father, Kenneth Kingslow Sear; mother, Mary Elizabeth Sear Gary; step-brother Frankie Scott; and sister, Nancy Carol Sear Konow. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Maxine Mae McCauley Sear; 3 children; Danita Sear Jones of Moses Lake, Wa; Mike and Dana Sear of Kansas City, Ks; Dave and Tami Sear Lybbert of Moses Lake, Wa.; one brother, Jim Sear of Marble Hall, Mo; 13 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

By his request there will be no funeral service. To those who would like to honor Tom the family would ask that you make a donation to the charity of your choice.