About 10 years ago, there was a smart ass kid who use to terrorize a lot of people in The Weather Channel forum on Compuserve with his offbeat, and sometimes unsettling brand of humor. Naturally, being someone who loves absurd humor, I eventually was won over by the guy and we developed a friendship (along with a few other compadres along the way) which lasted, regrettably to say, until just a few weeks back. That kid was Jeff Wear.
I won't comment on what happened which created the rift between us. It was probably the sort of thing which would have probably eventually healed with time. What I will say is this. The community has lost a guy who had an extreme passion for what he did and definitely paid his dues over the years. Just go back to our chases in 1998 and 2003, for example, to understand how much futility we sometimes had to deal with.
Jeff never let those days get to him though. He could take the crappiest chase day on the Plains and somehow have you busting a gut laughing by the time you were settling in for the night at the next nameless and forgetable motel down the road.
I was to chase with Jeff again this past June, but circumstances came up which prevented this from happening. The last time I got to see Jeff was at the 2004 convention:
I always looked forward to meeting up with Jeff again, not only because of his sense of humor, but because the guy loved to talk storms as well. If there's any doubt about his dedication to the hobby, look no further than his signature license plates.
I'm sorry if my post is disjointed and incoherent, but it's really hard to know what feelings you're supposed to have at a time like this. I've never had anyone outside of my family that I considered myself close to who died so tragically and unexpectedly.
I'll just wrap it up by saying for the 10 years or so I knew Jeff, he was definitely one of those people you encounter on life's journey who makes you glad you went along for the trip.
Peace Jeff.
Mike
