Barbara Jane Pear

We were fortunate enough to call her Mom

Some phrases heard around our home growing up were:
“You are not going to tell mom, are you!”
“Mom, wakeup it is (4 a.m.) Christmas!”
“Bobby just threw up!”
“Mom I found this dead bird in the yard. Can you cook it for dinner?”

Mom, a.k.a. Barbara Pear was also known to many as a volunteer, Cub Scout den-mother, bridge player, and military wife planning the family’s move to another state or country. We knew her as a loving mom, family nurse, church attendance enforcer, fashion adviser, etiquette instructor, bad-teenage breakup comforter, and moral compass.  She was the heart of our family! 

Mom died Jan. 15 at Gulf Coast Hospital. She was 92. All four of her children were with her along with her son-in-law and granddaughter.

Mom was a 41-year Cape Coral resident. Born Barbara Jane Hill in Springfield Ohio in 1927 to Keith and Florence Hill. Her family lost their business and home in the Great Depression. 

Immediately after WW II broke out, her father took a civil service job at Pearl Harbor. Florence followed three years later. Mom stayed in Springfield with our Aunt Helen to finish her senior year in high school, before reuniting with her parents.

In April of 1945, while the US was still at war with Japan, she traveled to Hawaii on a Naval convoy with 8,000 marines.

“She read me the Riot Act for skydiving,” humorously recalled her youngest son Thomas Pear. “Now, I find out she sailed the Pacific during the Second World War when the Japanese Navy was desperate to sink American ships using submarines and Kamikaze pilots.”

Mom was living with her parents in Hawaii when she met our Dad, Charles Edward Pear, a young Army Air Corp lieutenant. They married in the Aloha State in 1948.   They were later stationed at Warner Robins Air Force Base in Macon, Ga., where they had their first two sons, Charles E. Pear Jr. and Robert Pear. They welcomed their daughter Debra (Pear) LeRoy while the family was stationed in Newfoundland, Canada.  Their fourth child, Thomas, was born at Westover Air Force Base near Springfield, Mass. in 1964.

As a military wife, mom always ensured that she created a warm and comfortable home no matter where the family was stationed - Alabama, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Hawaii, and even Canada. She managed her household of four children when our Dad was stationed in Vietnam from 1967-1968.

After Dad retired from the Air Force in 1976, the family moved to Clearwater and then relocated to Cape Coral in 1978. Mom became active in the Society of Symphony Women, was a booster for the Cape Coral High School Marching Band, and a deacon at Faith Presbyterian Church.

In the 1980s, Mom became a charter member of the Philanthropic Educational Organization’s (P.E.O.) Cape Coral chapter, which provides scholarships and educational opportunities to women throughout the United State and Canada. She often recruited her children and husband to participate in the P.E.O annual fundraiser luncheon and fashion show at the Palmetto Pine Country Club

A memorial service will be held for Mom on January 30th at 2 p.m. at Faith Presbyterian Church on Coronado Parkway in Cape Coral. Mom will be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery with our Dad, Colonel Charles E. Pear who passed away in 2017. In addition to her four children, Mom is survived by her son-in-law, Robert LeRoy and her daughter-in-law, Linda Pear and grandchildren Jennifer Pear, Amy LeRoy Direen and her husband Joshua Direen, Charles E. (Ted) Pear III, Michael LeRoy, Stephanie Pear, Danielle Pear, and Arielle Pear.

“We love you and miss you Mom!”

In lieu of flowers donations can be made to:  PEO CHAPTER GD  
  
MAIL TO:  Barbara Pear Memorial Donation c/o Ken Luff,
Fuller Metz, Cremation & Funeral Services, 3740 Del Prado Blvd. S., Cape Coral, 33904