Residential contractor was active in civic affairs
Published July 24, 2019
NORTH ANDOVER — M. Shepard “Shep” Spear, 72, of North Andover, formerly of North Reading and Lynnfield, died Tuesday, July 16, 2019 at the Kaplan Family Hospice House in Danvers.
Born in Winchester on June 27, 1947, he was the son of the late Manton P. and Barbara L. (Lunt) Spear.
Shep was raised in Lynnfield and attended Lynnfield Public Schools. He spent his senior year at The Tilton School in New Hampshire and after graduating went on to Maryville College in Tennessee. While in a freshman biology lecture, he met Susan Smith, his college sweetheart. The two married at the end of college and served as dorm parents at Maryville for several years before moving on to begin their own family. Yearning for familiar New England, Shep and Susan moved back and ultimately settled in and raised their family in North Reading, where they lived for nearly 40 years.
Outside of his family, Shep’s main focus and passion was his work as a self-employed residential contractor. As an active member of the Northeast Builders Association of Massachusetts, he was named Builder of the Year in 1998.
Shep supported the North Reading community by serving on the Community Planning Commission (CPC) from 1997 to 2007 in addition to being a member of several other town committees involving waste water management and capital improvements such as the Wastewater/Stormwater Advisory Committee, the School Building Committee and the Elementary School Building Committee, the Housing Partnership, and the Martins Pond Improvement Committee. He served as the CPC representative to the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) and was also an associate member of the Zoning Board of Appeals.
He was a longtime member of the Centre Congregational Church of Lynnfield where he served on the Board of Trustees and sang in the choir. He enjoyed taking trips with his family to the beach in South Carolina. He also had a love of dogs, especially beagles.
He was the beloved husband of Susan (Smith) Spear. He was the loving father of Aaron Richard Spear and his wife Emilie of Superior, Colorado, and Nathan Shepard Spear and his wife Eva of Summerville, South Carolina. He was the brother of Craig Spear of Lynnfield and Bradford Spear of Amesbury. He delighted in his granddaughters, Cora, Sonja, Lorna and Vera.
His memorial service will be held in the Centre Congregational Church, 5 Summer St., Lynnfield, on Saturday, August 3 at 11 a.m. Relatives and friends are invited to attend. Arrangements are in the care of the McDonald Funeral Home, Wakefield.
In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be made to the Centre Congregational Church Memorial Fund, 5 Summer St., Lynnfield MA 01940.