Vernon Russell Bear

Vernon Russell Bear, aged 99, former Tucson resident and Telecommunications Accountant passed into the Arms of His Loving Savior, Jesus Christ on September 15, 2022. Vernon was born on the family farm near Russell, Kansas. On August 13, 1950, he married Bonnie Jean Underwood. He is survived by their two children, Evelyn Lambert, Moreno Valley, California and Alan Bear, Woodburn, Oregon. Five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, sisters Mildred Reiter, Belleview, Pennsylvania and Vera Hinnen, Holton, Kansas. Preceding him in death were his wife of 65 years Bonnie and three brothers. Vernon was a faithful husband, father and an active member of 22nd Street Baptist Church, Tucson, Arizona until moving to California.

In his early years on the farm he learned to milk cows, harness and drive horses to pull feed wagons and farm implements, and later tractor pulled implements and trucks to do the farm jobs. After graduating from Russell High School in 1941 he took a job working for a Farmer and Rancher, who planted and harvested about 500 acres of wheat and cane crops to feed 100 head of young cattle during the winter. The cattle were placed in pastures during the summer to eat grass and gain weight, and sold in the fall to be shipped to Commercial Feedlots. When Vernon married, he took a job as Bookkeeper in a Lumber Yard, which included selling and loading Paint, Hardware, Cement and Lumber on customer’s trucks. His interest in bookkeeping led him to study Accounting by correspondence, which prepared him for an Accounting Job in the Telephone Industry. As the years passed Holding Companies purchased the Mom and Pop companies and converted them to "modern-dial" service. As a result, Vernon’s responsibilities increased. Years later the Company provided payment for College Courses to Management persons. Vernon took advantage of the opportunity, and after 6 years of Night and Saturday classes received his B. S. Degree in Business and Economics in May 1980.