David Spear

David Wilson Spear was born, the first and only child of George E. and Winifred E. (Wilson) Spear Feb. 26, 1934 in Rapid City, S.D. His mother tragically died 10 days later, and David was temporarily given into the care of his Aunt Mary (Spear) Willet while his father attempted to rebuild his life.

After George remarried to Veronica J. Breck, David returned to his father and new mother, and the family began anew.

They first lived in the Black Hills of South Dakota in the home of his grandfather, D.C. Spear, between Hill City and Keystone, S.D.

It was the height of the depression but David remembered those days as happy, wearing overalls and going barefoot in the summer; of walking over the hill with his dog Jim to fish at Horse Thief Lake; of bottle-feeding lambs (gifted from sheep herders that passed the house) that later seemed to mysteriously disappear. The hi-top button-up shoes that he had to wear were embarrassing, but other than that life was good and the family always had enough to eat.

By 1942 the family had moved to Utah, where his siblings Georgia, John, Ron, Kenneth and Carol were born. It was also in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he lost half of his finger in a small cement mixer when he was 10.

When he was 19 and facing a winter doing house construction around Salt Lake City he decided instead to serve his country and enlisted in the Marine Corps, where he learned the finer points of being a Marine (along with learning to be a heavy equipment mechanic and operator).

He was honorably discharged from active duty in 1956 as a sergeant, and it was on his way home to Utah that he met the love of his life, Loretta P. Johnson. They married June 23, 1957 in Los Angeles, Calif., and raised two boys, Bradley J. and Steven D.

While living for a short time in Downey, Calif., and then in Norwalk, Calif., David earned a living as a heavy equipment operator, building roads and aqueducts, and was half-owner of a gun shop.

But deciding he had to remove his children from the L.A. smog, and probably feeling a draw back to his rural upbringing, he returned in 1972 to live in the home he had purchased in 1968, which was near the boyhood home where his parents and siblings had returned in 1960. He lived there the rest of his life, initially working with heavy equipment again, but he also owned a bakery in Hill City, and ended up as a machinist at Merilat. 

Outside of employment working for others, he also did gunsmithing work for the local police and others, as well as occasional welding jobs.

David passed from this life Aug. 9, 2024 at the age of 90.

He was preceded in death by his father; mother; and step-mother; his sister, Georgia; and his loving wife, Loretta.

David is survived by his children, Bradley and Pamela of Redondo Beach, Calif., and Steven and Marell of Rapid City; by siblings John and Cindy of Cheyenne, Wyo., Ron and Joyce of Custer, S.D., Ken and Velta of Cheyenne and Carol and Jim of Keystone. 

Memorial services will be at 10 a.m., Friday, Aug. 16 at Community Lutheran Church in Hill City, followed by a committal service with full military honors presented at the Hill City Cemetery in Hill City.

Arrangements have been placed in the care of Chamberlain McColley’s Funeral Home in Custer.