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Classmate Richard Mears wrote," My brother John Mears passed away at 2:22 July14th, 2021 in Dunnellen, Florida. He fell and hit his head last night in the driveway at his house. He had massive damage to the back of his head. No services are planned at this time. He will be cremated. There will be a memorial service in October in Pine Island, Fl. where he lived for several years. His wife Linda is in bad health and was with him when he fell. He is survived by his son johnny, his daughter Andie, wife Linda and 3 grandchildren."
Classmate Richard Mears also provided us this from Jojn's Daughter Andie: "John Mears has gone way too soon. Never forgotten. I love you dad. Thank you for all you’ve taught me and the adventures we had. He is the original Marlboro man. I’m not sure what else to say other than I love him very much and my whole family is devastated by his sudden death. He moved to an island in Florida when he retired and he loved it there more than anywhere on earth. I saw my dad for who he truly was on that island. He flourished there. Everyone loves him. He was generous and kind and was full of life. Some of us who are the most happy tend to have the darkest pasts though. He did the best he could and made the best of his life after coming home from Vietnam. Throw in a school shooting and a terrorist attack, I don’t know how anyone would be able to have a normal life after having experienced the worst of the worst in this world. He persevered and was a loving grandfather to his grandchildren. He always did what John wanted to do and when he put his mind to it he made sure it happened. He loved to garden and fix things like old tube radios. He built a gazebo in our backyard when we were kids. He always had the best Christmas decorations on the house and we won at least once that I know of, our neighborhood contest. From changing a tire to putting on my makeup he was there to teach me and guide me. Well he tried at least. I will miss you. Say hi to the dogs for me."
Admin Note: If we get an obituary, it will be added at that time, Ramon
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James Shields
Before doing anything else on the computer, I always check JT 1965 for the latest news. A total shock to see John's name here. To me and my brother, he was always Johnny just as his brother Richard was always Dickie to us. The Mears family lived up the hill from us on Baker Dr. in Tyler. They were like an extention to our family (brothers). The summers saw us with them on almost a daily basis with no shirts, shoes and drinking out of the water hose when hot. During the school year, we were with each other on the weekends. Our summers saw a lot of campouts under the stars with a blanket, pillow and lot of activities. Luckily, none of our activities turned out to be criminal. We stayed up all night, ran around the neighborhood and then when the sun came up, walked home and crashed. I am still impressed that our parents allowed us this freedom for they were very strict and it later years, this did cause some friction with our parents. I have no doubt that my dad, a DPS Officer, sometimes came down the street in the wee hours of he morning to check on us. If he did, he never let us see him and did not try to purposely embarass us. Probably done at our mother's urging. They cared , we knew it but they were at times over protective. I never knew Johnny's dad or what happened to him. We only knew is mother and grandfather. Both were great people that were kind enough to allow us the run of the house during the day and the run of the yard on so many summer nights. As so often happens, after graduation, we all went our separate ways and our childhood friends were people that we saw at reunions and tried to catch up with information, reliving those old memories and then returning to our present lives until the next reunion. Richard (Dickie) my prayers are with you, your family and John's (Johnny) family.
Linda True (Weesner)
I am so sorry to hear of John's accident and that he passed away from those injuries. Johnny was a really nice, but kind of quite guy. We grew up in same neighborhood. He will be missed.🙏🏻<>>