Obituary of Grace H. McLear

GOUVERNEUR- Grace H. McLear, age 95 of Gouverneur, passed away on Thursday, August 24, 2017 at River Ledge Nursing Home in Ogdensburg. Grace was born on September 16, 1921 in Theresa, NY to the late Clarence and Deborah (Harris) Hicks. She attended school in a one room school house on the New Connecticut Rd. in Oxbow until 8th grade and then she went on to graduate from Antwerp High School in 1940. Grace married Delbert J. McLear on December 30, 1946 at the Gouverneur Methodist Church with Rev. Harold Thomas officiating. Delbert passed away on June 16, 2004. The couple had been married for 58 years. Grace worked as a telephone operator for NY Telephone in Gouverneur from 1942-1962. During the war she went to work as a telephone operator in Geneva, NY and then she came back to Gouverneur. After 1962 she worked as a telephone operator in Watertown and Syracuse. When she finished working for the telephone company she took care of the elderly. Grace is a member of the Gouverneur United Methodist Church, the United Methodist Women's Group and Unit 2. She enjoys reading, playing cards, helping people, baking all kinds of things and giving it away, shopping, embroidering, gardening and in her younger years she was a great swimmer and water skier. She and her husband Delbert enjoyed their 27 years in Florida and their camp on Sylvia Lake from 1963 to 2001. Surviving is a daughter, Connie Marie McLear of Tupper Lake; a sister, Ruth Roy of Baldwinsville; a sister-in-law, Retha Hicks of Evans Mills and several nieces, nephews and cousins. Grace is predeceased by her husband, two brothers Hershel Hicks and Frank Hicks and two sisters Marion Robertson and Lena Sprague. There will be one hour of calling hours on Tuesday, August 29, 2017 from 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. at French Funeral Home, Gouverneur. Her funeral service will immediately follow at 12:00 a.m. at the funeral home with Rev. Ronald Sinclair of the Oxbow Presbyterian Church officiating. Burial will follow at Oakwood Cemetery in Theresa, NY.