George Lewis Frear, Jr.
May 25, 1932 - December 23, 2020
After a brief battle with complications from melanoma, George Lewis Frear, Jr. died quietly on the evening of December 23, 2020, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He was eighty-eight years old. George was born on May 25, 1932 to George Lewis Frear Sr. and Esther Wilson Frear, in New Haven, Connecticut. He grew up mostly in Connecticut, apart from several years in Muscle Shoals, northern Alabama where his father, a chemist, worked for the Tennessee Valley Authority. He graduated from New Canaan High School in 1950, and graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University in 1954.
George’s strong interest in theology and philosophy drew him to attend seminary and he chose Union Theological Seminary in New York City out of his admiration for the Reformed theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. He earned his Master of Divinity in 1957 and was ordained a minister in the Presbyterian Church. It was at Union that George met his future wife, Joann Palmer of Shreveport, Louisiana, while attending a rally for Adlai Stevenson. They married in 1958. George served for several years as a pastor in Waterville, New York, and as a navy chaplain before returning to Union Theological Seminary where he received his Ph. D. in theology in 1969.
George and Joann settled in Canton, New York, where George found a position as a professor of religious studies at St. Lawrence University. In this beautiful rural area, known to locals as “the North Country,” the couple raised two daughters, Sara and Marian, were active parishioners of Grace Episcopal Church, and enjoyed outdoor activities such as canoeing, hiking, and cross-country skiing. George taught courses in religion, ethics, and Latin, and pursued a research interest in Native American religions with a particular focus on the role of animals. While living in upstate New York he studied the religion and language of the Mohawks of Akwesasne (the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation).
George and Joann moved to Albuquerque in 1994, several years after George had retired from St. Lawrence. Here he was able to continue his studies in Native American religion and animals, now with a focus on the Native cultures of New Mexico. He developed a strong interest in ecological theology. Joann, a teacher and journalist, shared these interests as well as pursuing her own career goals to become a hospital and then hospice chaplain. The couple were active members of St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church. They also did volunteer work related to Parkinson’s as Joann fought an eleven-year battle with the disease. George grieved deeply when his wife of sixty-one years finally succumbed to Parkinson’s in August of 2019. George is survived by his daughters Sara and Marian, and his grandson Armand.
George is remembered by family and friends as a gentle, kindhearted man with a brilliant mind and a broad range of interests that included ancient and modern languages, classical music, theater and film. He had strong ethical convictions that undergirded his quiet passion for social justice and ecology. He loved life and made friends easily. He kept his mind active to the end, teaching himself to read Chinese, voraciously reading history, literature in multiple languages, philosophy, and theology (as well as his beloved mystery novels). He always maintained his membership in the Society of Christian Ethics. George’s Christian faith, understated but resilient, sustained him even in times of grief. He trusted in God’s providence and was convinced that, in the end, “Nothing good will be lost.”
There will be a memorial service for George at St. Michael & All Angels Church, 601 Montano Road NW, Albuquerque, NM 87107, on August 7, 2021, 10 a.m., followed by a reception in the parish hall. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in George’s honor to Heifer International, https://www.heifer.org/ or to the Southwest Indian Foundation, https://www.southwestindian.com/donate.
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