– Grover Clarence Dear, Sr. passed away in his sleep on Wednesday, August 3, 2011 at the age of 94 years and 7 months in the presence of his loving daughter Deanna Dear Sanders and sister-in-law Nell Land Williams. Funeral service will be held on Friday, August 5, 2 p.m. at Memphis Funeral Home, 3700 N. Germantown Road. Memphis, TN. Visitation will precede the funeral service at 12 noon – 1:45pm. Following the service, internment will be at Memorial Park Cemetery with the funeral procession led by the Patriot Guard.
A Memorial Service will also be held on Saturday, August 6, 2:30pm at Kirby Pines Estates Chapel, 3535 Kirby Road, Memphis.
Grover Sr. was born one week before Christmas on December 18, 1916 in Attala County, Mississippi …..the second of four children and first-born son of Carlos Hubert Dear and Lottie Velma McCrory Dear. He grew up in Attala County, attended Sallis High School….. where he drove the school wagon, played the position of End on the Sallis football team, and developed a life-long love of sports and the great outdoors. Upon the outbreak of WWII, he served in the Army as First Tech Sergeant and Aerial Tactician on Canton Island and Baker Island in the South Pacific. After returning to Sallis at the war’s end, he met his life-long love and partner, Sue Land, and they were married in 1946. They resided in Jackson, Mississippi, where he began his 40 year career in the US Postal Service. They relocated to Memphis, Tennessee in 1948 where they lived, worked, and contributed to the community of Whitehaven for over 40 years, before moving to Cordova in 1987. As member of Whitehaven Baptist Church and founding member of Graceland Baptist Church, his physical efforts helped clear the land, survey the site, and construct the first clapboard structures that became Whitehaven’s second Baptist house of worship.
On June 17th of this year, Grover and Sue celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary with friends and family. Known as “Dear” or “Buck” to all……..his quiet strength, devotion to family, handsome good looks, and easy sense of humor made his life’s story a complete success. He is preceded in death by his parents Carlos & Lottie, his sister Christine Dear Payne, and his younger brother Wilton Lamar Dear. He is survived by his wife, Sue Land Dear, his son Grover Clarence Dear, Jr. of Hong Kong, his son Douglas Land Dear and wife Cynthia of Austin, TX, his daughter Deanna Susan Dear Sanders and husband Keith of Cordova, TN, and his sister Anna Lou Dear Robertson of Winona, MS. His treasured and lovely grandchildren include Lindsey, Whitney, Ashton, and Jordan of Virginia Beach, VA …. Hayden and Regan of Cordova, TN…..and three wonderful step-grandchildren Jon, Trey, and Danielle of Austin, TX.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the “Grover C. Dear, Sr. Memorial Fund for Job’s Way", in care of the Kirby Pines Foundation, 3535 Kirby Road, Memphis, Tennessee, 38115. For contribution details, please contact Michael R. Mims at [email protected] . Online condolences may be made at www.memphisfuneralhome.net
Funeral Service for Grover C. Dear, Sr.
August 5, 2011
Memphis Funeral Home, Memphis, TN
Born: December 18, 1916
Died: August 3, 2011
Prelude........... The Martin Family String Quartet
Music Video...."I Can Only Imagine"....... Mercyme
Scripture and Prayer...... Dr. Danny Sinquefield
Poem....."When Tomorrow Starts Without Me"...... Susannah Regan Sanders
Music...."Nearer My God to Thee" ...... The Martin Family String Quartet
Eulogy ...... Grover C. Dear, Jr.
"Sweet Memory" ...... Deanna Dear Sanders
Music..."How Great Thou Art" The Martin Family String Quarter
Message..... Dr. Danny Singuefield
Vocal a cappella....."Amazing Grace" Deanna Dear Sanders
Benediction..... Dr. Danny Sinquefield
Postlude...... The Martin Family String Quartet
Eulogy for Grover C. Dear, Sr.
given by Grover C. Dear, Jr.
5 August 2011
There always has been something easy, quiet, and strong about my Father, Grover Clarence Dear. He was a man born truly in the middle of nowhere in the red hills of Mississippi…..and proud of it. He was also a man truly smart enough to find a way out & a way forward……..he was smart enough to find his life-long love & partner, my Mother Sue, and together they built a solid, strong life together for over 65 years.
I’m the lucky one here today, because I was the first of their three healthy, smart, and loving children………so I’m the “Oldest” and along with that designation goes perhaps a few more memories. I always told him that the love & support he & Mother gave me while I was growing up in Whitehaven allowed me to become a successful & focused Christian contributor to this crazy & complex world. But this week I realized something that I’d never realized before………..My Father is the oldest friend & supporter that I’ve ever known.
I always remember being told that when I was brought into this world 62 years ago, I was supposed to be named Grover Douglas. However, Daddy got so excited when he found out I was a boy, he immediately decided that I had to be Grover Clarence Dear, Jr. He also got so excited…….as he handed out cigars in the hospital waiting room…… that he put the wrong end of his lighted cigar in his mouth! Baptist Memorial Hospital had never before heard and seen such sputtering & commotion……..and it took a long time for him to live that one down!
Grover Clarence Dear……what a name! When Daddy & I were together meeting new friends, I always introduced him as “the original Grover”…..and I was “just the copy!” He got a kick out of that!
When I was 12 or 13 years old, I asked every relative I had lots of questions about our family history. And no one could ever tell me why Daddy was named Grover !! His parents (Grandmollie & Pa Dear) and sisters & brother called him “Son”, his friends and contemporaries called him "Clarence", his in-laws called him "Buck", his nieces & nephews called him "Uncle Buck", and his grandchildren called him "Pop" or "Poppy". Doug, Deanna, & I called him "Daddy"………. and Mother just always called him “Dear”. What a unique and affectionate title! What a perfect and appropriate surname for a man that truly was & and always will be so “Dear” !
His favorite ice cream flavor was vanilla… his favorite past time was watching ball games…his favorite song was “Somewhere over the Rainbow”.
I remember one time when I took him and Mother to the fanciest boutique ice cream parlor in San Francisco. While Mother & I were having a hard time deciding what was the most colorful, most unusual, and most exotic flavor to order…….He just walked up the counter and said “Vanilla”. I started to give him a hard time, and asking him why not try something unusual and new and different…. Without a blink, Daddy looked at me and said “that’s just the way I like it!”
For any of you that were around him for more than 30 seconds, you know he couldn’t wait to listen to and watch every sports game in history……..whether it was Friday night football at Whitehaven High School or Harding Academy, or Saturday afternoons at Ole Miss or Mississippi State stadiums, or just parked in front of the TV watching football, basketball, baseball……… you name it! He lived to watch them all. I could watch it all with him for maybe two hours or so, and whenever I’d ask him how he could become so absorbed in hours and hours of endless sports competition, he’d always look at me and say “that’s just the way I like it! “
On numerous occasions when we’d be at social gatherings at Kirby Pines or someplace out on the town, if there was a musician playing, he’d always request “Somewhere over the Rainbow”. One night I finally asked him what was so special about that song…..Daddy loved the outdoors, whether it was communing with nature in his garden, or fishing at Flower Lake or Arkabutla or Sardis or Long Creek. Did that song bring back memories? Did it remind him of special times in his life? Again, without judgment or explanation, he’d look at me with those deep blue eyes and say “that’s just the way I like it!”
His response was always pretty simple, solid, and to the point…… and the honest truth of his words is going to really sink in for me now as my life begins without him as close at hand as I’ve always expected him to be. After 94 and a half years in this life, he’s now ahead of us all….somewhere over the rainbow…… and he has accomplished all he was meant to accomplish. I can smile, I can celebrate, and I can take comfort in knowing he’s in a better place……….and still just as easy, just as supportive, and just as strong as any “Dear” person can be.
So as we’re all gathered here today to honor Daddy, I know you all share wonderful memories and sincere appreciation for such a kind and faithful “Dear”………….. Grover Clarence Dear……. a gentle man & a gentleman, a loving husband and amazing Father and ……… my oldest friend & supporter that I’ve ever known. ………. and that’s just the way I like it!
"When Tomorrow Starts without Me"
recited by Susannah Regan Sanders
5 August 2011
When tomorrow start without me, and I’m not there to see,
If the sun should rise and find your eyes all filled with tears for me,
I wish so much you wouldn’t cry the way you did today
while thinking of the many things we didn’t get to say.
I know how much you love me, as much as I love you,
and each time that you think of me, I know you’ll miss me, too.
But when tomorrow starts without me, please try to understand
that an angel came and called my name, and took me by the hand,
and said my place was ready, in Heaven far above,
and that I’d have to leave behind all those I dearly love.
But as I turned to walk away, a tear fell from my eye.
For all my life I’d always thought, I didn’t want to die.
I had so much to live for……… so much yet to do.
It seemed almost impossible, that I was leaving you.
I thought of all the yesterdays, the good ones and the bad.
I thought of all the love we shared, and all the fun we had.
If I could relive yesterday, just even for a while,
I’d say goodbye and kiss you, and maybe see you smile.
When I walked through Heaven’s gates, I felt so much at home.
When God looked down and smiled at me from His golden throne,
He said, “This is Eternity, and all I’ve promised you.
Today your life on earth is past, but here it starts anew.”
So when tomorrow starts without me, don’t think we’re far apart.
For every time you think of me, I’m right here in your heart.
COMPARTA UN OBITUARIO
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