KEAR, Thelma

The White Mountain Independent, Show Low, Arizona ~ 05/26/2006 Thelma Allen Kear died Wednesday, May 17, 2006 in a Mesa Nursing Home. As the third of eight children, Thelma spent her early years in Woodruff. After graduation from Holbrook High, she moved to the Tempe area with her sister, Norma. A short time later, she moved to Mesa where she met and married her husband. Twelve years later they were sealed to each other and their children in the Mesa Temple. They spent 49 years together and raised four children. She was active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints holding various ward, and stake positions of service. She worked for Mesa Public Schools, where she retired as a cafeteria manager after 23 years. A fastidious housekeeper, she enjoyed cooking, sewing, volleyball, and basketball, but it was her love of genealogy that kept her hands and mind very busy in her final years. She met and made, many friends through this work, and she will be greatly missed. She was preceded in death by her husband, Frederick Lewis Kear. She is survived by her sisters, Nella Hatch of Holbrook, and Joan Turley of Woodruff. She is also survived by her children, Peggy Ann Parkes (Charles) of Taylor, Lewis Kear of Mesa, Charlotte Porter of Gilbert, and Kenneth Kear (Mary) of Mesa. She has 15 grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren (with four more to be born this year). Services will be held Saturday, May 27 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 933 E. Brown Rd in Mesa. A viewing will be held at 9 a.m. followed by the funeral service at 10 a.m. Internment will be in the Woodruff Cemetery in Woodruff, the same day, at 4 p.m.