John C. Mears

John C. Mears age 88 of Chanute Kansas passed away December 19th, 2021, at Santa Marta in Olathe Kansas. John was born June 28th, 1933, in Woodson County Kansas to Ivan & Luena Mears.

John attended rural Woodson County schools, sometimes taught by his mother. He graduated from Buffalo High School in 1951 and Neosho County Junior College in 1953 with an Associate's degree in business.

He married Juanita Moerer in 1953 and they had one daughter, Sandra Mears, in 1954. Soon after, he was drafted into the US Army and deployed to Germany, Austria and Italy through 1956. John returned to work at HK Porter for 15 years while maintaining a farm and various other enterprises. He worked at Kustom Electronics for 5 years, then sold Miracle Span steel buildings for several years. He built and dotted the prairie with them (see the 2 buildings west of Cherry and Plummer). After that John farmed, raised cattle, and even developed his own breed. He called his breed ALLS, a triple cross between Angus, Limousine and Longhorns. He also witched his own oil & gas wells and developed and sold several oilfields. John was successful in all his endeavors because of hard work and lots and lots of research. He retired from the oil business in December 2017.

John is survived by his daughter Sandra Mears, his brother Arnold Mears (Ann), his sister Maureen Ford, several cousins, nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his wife and lifelong partner Juanita, his parents, his brother Don Mears, his sister-in-law Treva Mears and his brother-in-law Myrl Ford (Maureen).

John was happiest when he was working and, in the end, he was still working, or at least thought he was. Arnold and Sandra had to tend to the cattle or pick up pipe, but fortunately they were able to tell him he did that yesterday... In lieu of flowers, please donate to NE Kansas Catholic hospice or the hospice or charity of your choice.

Visitation will be held Monday, December 27, 2021, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Wickham Family Funeral Home 500 North Forest Ave, Chanute, KS 66720 with burial to follow at Buffalo Cemetery, Buffalo, KS.