Jerry Gene Lear

The world was given a great gift the day Jerry Lear was born to Ruth and Gene Lear in The Dalles, Oregon. The family was living in Hermiston but the nearest hospital was in the Dalles and his mother's meal of watermelon precipitated the trip. Jerry was the first child born to Ruth and Gene Lear. Having a boy to carry on the Lear name was of immense importance and carried great responsibility. Jerry took that position very seriously. Fortunately, he was given the ability to accomplish all he desired. Jerry moved from Hermiston, to Seaside, to Redmond and finally in high school to Corvallis, when Jerry's father was promoted to be the state agricultural agent employed on the Oregon State campus. Jerry was an honor student, awarded for his alto sax talents and leadership roles. He got up early in the morning to do his paper route. Jerry always said he moved to Corvallis so he could meet his wife, Julie, a Corvallis native. Upon graduation from Corvallis High School, he entered Oregon State as a premed major. At a young age, Jerry had admired an uncle with an MD and that influenced his chosen path in medicine. School was easy for Jerry even though procrastination was his middle name. Summer odd jobs were varied, working for Corvallis Sand and Gravel driving black top and cement trucks, working at the cannery, washing dishes at restaurants and running the athletic department switchboard at Oregon State. At OSU, he joined the Acacia fraternity and lived mostly at home. He was accepted into many honor societies and was a member of the ROTC honor drill team. After 3 years at Oregon State, he was admitted to medical school. That summer he married the love of his life, Julie Williams Lear, whom he had dated since Junior year in high school, in Corvallis, Oregon. At the University of Oregon Medical School (OHSU) he was a very successful student, earning many awards, He was a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society and the first ever to graduate Magna Cum Laude. Fulfilling his desire to have the most challenging internship at a county hospital, Jerry chose Philadelphia General. Moving to Philadelphia from Portland was like going to the moon for a native Oregonian. With his first baby, Kristin, due in a month, he and Julie made the move to Philadelphia. He insisted Kristin be born in the University of Pennsylvania hospital after seeing the challenges in Philadelphia General. After experiencing all phases of medicine, Jerry chose general and thoracic surgery for his specialty, and was chosen to train at Stanford University medical school. His second child, Mark, was born there. After 3 years of residency, he took a break from school to take care of his military obligation. He was sent to Fort Meade, Maryland in August 1969. In November Jerry received orders to serve in Vietnam and flew to Fort Sam Houston to be trained for hazardous duty. Julie and the kids flew to Oregon to live while Jerry was in the service. Captain Jerry Lear came through Corvallis to meet his third child, Kimberlee, who was born while he was in Texas. Jerry left on March 14th, 1970 for a year of service in Vietnam in the Mekong delta in a M.A.S.H. hospital. He met Julie in Hawaii twice for 5 days of R and R. While in Vietnam, Jerry received the Bronze Star Medal and was promoted to Major. Upon his return from Vietnam he finished his army time at The Presidio in San Francisco. Stanford medical school was happy to have Jerry return and gave him 6 months of credit for his surgery experience in Vietnam. In 1973, with his residency finished, he and his family moved to Bend to accept a surgical position with Bend Memorial Clinic and St. Charles Hospital. At that time the Bend Memorial Clinic was on Greenwood and 4th Street and the hospital was in downtown Bend off of Franklin Street. In 1975 Jerry was initiated into the American College of Surgeons. Jerry spent 30 fulfilling years as a surgeon in Bend before retiring. During the first 10 year of his retirement he did volunteer surgeries at Volunteers in Medicine. In life, his leisure activities were swimming, windsurfing, scuba diving, Cycle Oregon with his son, skiing, and birding. He was very active in Trinity Episcopal Church, leading youth group trips to New Orleans and Ireland, organizing the snow removal team, involvement in Cursillo and raising money for Condega, Nicaragua. Jerry was on the board of the family kitchen and also enjoyed volunteering with cooking and serving. All of these things served his faith and his deep commitment to help others. Jerry was always researching and getting as much information as possible on any subject that interested him including Parkinson's disease, the illness that took his life. He was devoted and interested in the lives of his family. His highschool sweetheart and wife of 62 years, Julieann Williams Lear, his 3 children, Kristin Rosati (Mimmo), Kimberlee Churchill (Bruce) and Mark Lear and his three grandchildren, Hayley, Austin and Ike along with the additional blessings of Mimmo's children, Francesca, Marco and Massimiliano and Bruce's sons Will and Ian. The celebration of Jerry's life will be held on April 29th at 10:00 am at the Trinity Episcopal Church of Bend with a reception following. Memorial contributions would be appreciated to the Parkinson's Disease Research Foundation, Trinity Episcopal Church Outreach (especially K.I.D.S and the family kitchen).

Tributes

Jerry Gene Lear

August 5, 1940 - March 31, 2023