George Alan Mears
October 24, 1938 ~ April 14, 2013
Resided in:
Leicester, NC
George Alan Mears, 74, of Jones Rd., Leicester, died Sunday, April 14, 2013, at the John F. Keever Hospice Solace Center.
George was born October 24, 1938, in Asheville, NC, and was raised in nearby Leicester.
George was a member of Bell United Methodist Church, Leicester, NC. He was interested in his family genealogy as well as the history of the Leicester community.
George was retired from the FBI after 37 years service. His service took him to Washington, DC, Charlotte, NC, and Greensboro, NC, before his retirement in 1994. George returned with his wife, Betsy, to Leicester in 1998 where he made a new home on the old Mears property.
George was preceded in death by his parents, Woodrow C. Mears and Edna Gorman Mears.
Surviving is his wife of 53 years, Eleanor Grace (Betsy) Friel Mears, of West Virginia, whom he met and married in Washington, DC, in 1960. George is also survived by his son, Mark Alan Mears and wife, Nicole; daughter Joni Lynn Dorman and husband, Mark; six grandchildren, Aaron, Ashley, Averie, Samuel, Isaiah, and Abigail; and one great-granddaughter, Meshe.
A service of remembrance will be held at 3:00 p.m. Wednesday in the Patton Ave. chapel of Groce Funeral Home, with the Revs. Dustin James and Bob Moon officiating. Interment will follow at Bell United Methodist Church Cemetery.
His family will receive friends one hour prior to the service.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Bell UMC, PO Box 36, Leicester, NC 28748, and/or to CarePartners Hospice, PO Box 25338, Asheville, NC 28813.
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Dear Mears Family,
Our love and prayers go out to you during this time of loss. George’s infectious smile will be greatly missed in the community. May God’s love and strength be with you all.
Dear Mears family,
We are so sorry to learn of your loss. May God wrap his arms around you and give you peace in this time of sorrow.
We are the family of Molly Cole and Carroll Gorman. Vorrest Lonzo and Mary Gorman were my in-laws. Thank you for being there for us at my husband, Vorrest’s funeral.
May God bless you.
Keeping all of you in my Prayers. May God Bless and Keep you.
Willie M. McFadden
Betsy and family, Our thoughts and prayers are with you. George was a good friend, and will truly be missed. He was such a strong Christian man who loved our Lord and knew Him as his Savior, so we know he is with Him now and no longer sick. May God wrap His loving arms around each of you and give you the peace and comfort that only He can. We love you!
Joni,
We are thinking about you during this time. I know your daddy is very proud of the wonderful woman you have become. You are so special to us and we love you. Thinking about you and your family during this time.
Dear Betsy and family,
Our hearts ache for your loss. George was indeed a kind and gentle man. Devoted to his family, the Leicester community and faithful to his church; George truly epitomized what it looks like to “love thy neighbor”. He could always make us laugh and we never had to wonder what he was thinking! We are going to miss him fiercely, but he will live on in our hearts- until we meet again. May God bless you and keep you.
God Bless Uncle George… from the very first time I met George he made me feel comfortable and excepted. Very friendly and loving with a genuine interest what I had to say.. I met a couple of FBI folks over the years in the Charlotte region and would mention Uncle George and the comments were always so positive. I feel blessed to have known such a great American..
Dear Betsy and Family,
May God comfort and bless you during this difficult time. George was a kind and gentle man and I loved him. I will miss him but I still have memories of the good times we spent together.
Dear Mears family – you are blessed to have had George in your family. And we in the FBI are lucky to have shared him with you. I only knew him for a short time, but he was a great man. God bless you and know that there are many who share your sadness. Phil King
Dear Betsy and family,
When I look back at George’s life, I believe that he left our little part of the world a better place. Nothing more can be asked of anyone and George answered that call in his own unique way. I am honored to have known George. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of you. Jeff Weller
Betsy and George are family we have come to love dearly in a very short amount of time. We will miss this fine gentle man and how he influenced our lives. We are saddened for the loss of good people. We are saddened even more for the loss of good people we love.
We are very sad with the passing of George Alan. He was a dear cousin of mine and we kept in touch over the years. We were born the same year and same month so we had baby pictures together that we could laugh over. He had a great sense of humor and we exchanged photos of our families on e-mail. He was a loving family man.
We are very sad with the passing of George Alan. He was a dear cousin of mine and we kept in touch over the years. We were born the same year and same month so we had baby pictures together that we could laugh over. He had a great sense of humor and we exchanged photos of our families on e-mail. He was a loving family man.
Deeply sorry to hear of your great loss. Keeping you in our thoughts and prayers at this time of sorrow.
Betsy, you are in my thoughts and prayers. I have many memories of working with George, a man of great kindness and dedication. Rest in Peace George.
Betsy and family,
You are in my thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.
Betsy and family,
Please accept our deepest sympathy and heartfelt thoughts. May God hold you in His arms and heal the sorrow that you feel.
Betsy,
My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. It was great working with George and having him as a friend all those years. He was a great guy, and will be missed by all that knew him.
Such fond memories I have of Uncle George and Aunt Betsy and my cousins Mark and Joni. You are all in my thoughts and prayers. Love you all.
So sorry to hear this sad news. Prayers for the whole family.
Becky and Joe Judy (Gwennie’s sister)
Dear Betsy,
I’m so, so sorry to learn about George’s passing. I know he has moved on to a better place, but that doesn’t mean we won’t miss him. He was such a good friend to dad.
With love,
Erica Abrams Locklear
Our prayers are with all of you during this time. George was a great man and friend to us. He always had a smile and kind word to say to you. I enjoyed the time I got to spend with him at the Community Center. May God’s loving arms provide comfort to all of you.
We are so sorry for your lose. Rick and I will both miss George and enjoyed our visits when passing thru towns! We love you Betsy and you all are in our prayers.
Joni
just thinking of you and your family during this time, I will keep you in my prayers
Randy Webster
During the past year I had the good fortune to work with George on a pictorial history of Leicester township. Because I am not a native of the area, I couldn’t always visualize the way Leicester used to look. George would patiently explain until I did understand. As he shared his research and reminisced about the people in the photos, I came to be impressed, as many people were, by his intellect, kindness, understanding of human nature, and sense of humor. I feel very fortunate to have known him and to learn from him not only about history, but also about what it means to be an exemplary human being. I will miss him.
Betsey: I am so sorry to hear that George passed last Sunday. My sincere condolences to you and your family. George’s work in the Bureau made the agency what it was. He was more valuable to our mission than most agents. I apologize for not being with you today but I will be unable to attend his service. My thoughts and prayers are with you. My best regards always.
Please accept deepest, heartfelt sympathy in the loss of George. He was always cheerful and most willing to help when we worked at the FBI together. He could always find the files I needed and find them fast and never complained about anything. He will be missed by us all.
We were sorry to here George had passed,I told Judy that I hadn’t seen George in several weeks.When I go to the mail box and he was going by he would stop and talk. Our prayers with you. Frank & Judy Dover 126 Old Newfound
We were sadden to learn of George’s passing.He was such a nice and friendly person. I can remember remember walking down the hill to catch the school bus at his parent’s store and his Mother gave me some lily of the valley plants, which I still have. It was so nice of him to give daddy that photo of his mother and her siblings. It is something we never had and can be passed down to others. That was his way, always wanting to do something for others. He will be greatly missed in the Leicester community. Our thoughts and prayers are with all the family at this time of loss.
I grew up with George Alan in Leicester and remember him and his parents as being in the center of things. I was so happy I got to see him last summer at one of the luncheons. I am so thankful he gathered all the old photos and history of ‘way back then in Leicester. He will be sorely missed.
I so cherish our last visit to Asheville and Leicester to see the Mears home place. I loved sitting on George’s porch and talking with him about our relatives. He had such a wealth of knowledge. His hard work on our family history will be forever treasured. A truly amazing man will be missed and our thoughts to his family during this difficult time.
Betsy-
I just learned of your lost and wanted to extend my condolences. You have many friends here at BB&T who share in your sorrow during this time.
Please know that you and your family are in our thoughts and prayers.
Dear Gorman-Mears Family,
Just a note to let you know we are still thinking of you and holding you close in our hearts and prayers. It is always sad to hear of one of our own family members passing on. Betsy and children, I know from experience how much you are missing him and of the lonely
nights. Our children and I appreciate the email of March 18, 2001 and your reaching out to us, at the funeral, by you and George.
When I read of George’s interest in family genealogy, I was so reminded of all the times Vorrest and I went to the graveyards of Leicester with Mama Gorman (Mollie), as our guide, to record all the names of family on the tombstones. My husband and George even looked so much alike, they could have been brothers…actually second cousins.
Carroll Gorman was our Grandfather.
May the love of God and support of others give you strength in the days ahead. Just wanted you to know we care. The Gorman Family,
Rosman, North Carolina
George was a wonderful person. He was always happy and jovial. I know you will miss him dearly. My prayers are with your family during this loss.