**JEFF WEAR**

[Karen Politte]

Originally posted by Tim Vasquez
With Jeff's uncle's approval, Tim Marshall and I will be sending a letter to his family on behalf of the Stormtrack community.

Tim

Excellent, Tim. Some comfort can be taken from knowing your condolencies are being heard collectively - and Stormtrack, ultimately, always looks after its own.

David - I think the offer you made to Jeff's relatives about keeping his website up indefinitely is extremely chivalrous and commendable. That's the spirit.....

Karen

 

[David Drummond]

Tim, if you are sending this via regular main, perhaps you could cut and print everyone's comments about Jeff to send with it, so they could see how we all felt about him? I know they could visit it on here, but if your sending a printed letter, having it in print might be nice.

 

[Angie Norris]

I met Jeff a few years back at one of the Stormtrack picnics. I never really talked with him, but I got the impression of a quiet, good man.
My deepest condolences to his friends and family.
Jeff, you may no longer be here with us, but every time we look up, you'll be there. Chase on, Jeff.
Angie

If anyone knows if there will be a memorial service here in Norman, can you post it, please?

 

[Ben Prusia]

My deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Jeff Wear, this tragedy has struck the storm chasing community and it has affected all. His posts on ST were very intriguing and he will always deserve a spot at the top of the ST memberlist.

This is a good reminder of slowing down during times of inclement weather on the highways of tornado alley. Take an extra few minutes on the drive and live, the life you save may be your own or somebody else's.

 

[Jeff Lawson]

Clearly, I offer my heartfelt condolences to Jeff's family.

Whether I've met Jeff in real life or not, I can't say. That's beside the point, though. In the field, we all travel together.

 

[Tim Vasquez]

Jeff's uncle has vouched for our proposal to mail a letter to his parents. I will extract most of the text in this thread, with author citations, to be sent as an attachment to the cover letter.

Everyone has up until midnight CDT tonight to be included in the letter to his family, but don't write more than a paragraph or two or it will have to be edited. If you wish to exclude something you have previously posted, let me know.

Tim

 

[Tim Johnson]

Like so many others here, I too have never personally met Jeff, but his screen name is very familiar on ST and very much an icon on the site. I have also visited his website on several occaisions and enjoyed his work there. He will be sorely missed.

My prayers go out to Jeff's family during this time of loss.

 

[Derek Deroche]

Just heard of the very sad news...my deepest condolences to Jeff's family.

May he rest in peace...I'm sure he'll be watching over the plains for us.

 

[Steve Miller]

I met Jeff several times on the plains and various picnics and conventions. His contribution to the chase community in the form of forecasting, humor and overall passion will be missed and unmatched.

 

[Rocky Rascovich]

My deepest condolences

I'm shocked by Jeff's death...I did'nt know him personally but I certainly knew of him. Come to think of it, I'm almost certain that we have met somewhere while chasing and possibly here at the farm for one of my stormtrack picnics....

This is just a reminder to live everyday to its fullest...because none of us never knows when that final day arrives.

My deepest condolences to Jeff's family and friends.

Rocky&family

 

[Chris Sokol]

Summer and I wish to express our condolences to Jeffs family. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.

Jeff was an inspirational member of the chase community. His knowledge, viewpoints, and sense of humor will be greatly missed.

Fair winds Jeff...and farewell.

 

[Dave Kaplow]

This is truly awful news. This is a genuine tragedy for the chaser community and for everyone here at Stormtrack. Jeff will definitely be missed. My sincere condolences to his family and friends.

I never got the chance to meet Jeff in person, which is a damn shame because I can see that he and I would have got along well together. Jeff's death is a tragic reminder that when all is said and done, the most dangerous part of chasing by far is the driving. Never take the road for granted.

 

[Eric B'Hymer]

My heart goes out to all of Jeff's Family and Friends. Although i never perosnally met him while chasing, i have seen him drive by on some of the storms i have been on too. I will say a prayer tonite for the family.

Godspeed Jeff

 

[Dan Cook]

Rest in Peace Jeff.

Even though I never met him personally, I always enjoyed reading his posts here and talking to him on AIM.

You will be missed.

 

[Jay Barnes]

Hi Everyone,

I don't post up here a whole lot, but I wanted to personally thank everyone for all their kind words about Jeff. Jeff was one of my chase partners, whom I've known since 1998. He and I have chased together almost every year since then during my vacation time, and I occasionally would nowcast for him, the last time was during Hurricane Ivan. We made our last chase trip just a few weeks ago, little did I realize that would be our last chase trip together.

Off season, Jeff and I would talk fairly often via Yahoo Instant messanger and and exchange weather pictures via email, especially if we knew the weather would be active in Oklahoma or in and around Austin where I live.

Last night at 11:35 Mike Deason called me with the news, I was so shocked all I could say to him was "is this a joke?". (Mike, bud, I apologize again for that!) I can't remember when the last time I heard news that caught me off guard like that...I really didn't even know what to say. I wanted to post something to the forum last night, but I just couldn't put the words together. Today is a little easier but still such a tremendous shock...I still have the video from our chase this year in the video camera.

Jeff was a very good forcaster, writer, photographer and chaser, and made a couple of awesome chase videos he put on DVD. It was rare that if we went out on a chase that we would bust...even if we didn't see a tornado on our trips, we almost always wound up with some new weather phenomenon to experience that would make the trip just as much fun. I'd also like to say that Jeff had just replaced the tires on his car, I had seen them just a few weeks ago and his car looked like it was in great shape. And all the times I chased with Jeff he was a very safe and careful driver, obeyed the speed limit at all times during our chases. I felt very safe with him driving my vehicle, I just can't imagine what could have caused the accident.

Personally I'd like to thank everyone for all the kind words as I know Jeff would have been touched (he was VERY fond of the upside down tornado avatar!!). He loved posting to the Stormtrack forum and being a part of such a great group of folks. I would especially like to say thank you to Tim Vasquez and David Drummond for helping to preserve Jeff's presence in the storm chasing community by keeping his posts and website alive, that would have meant alot to him.

Jeff was very close to his family. He talked about them often and I can't imagine how hard this must be for them, please keep them in your thoughts and prayers!

I'd like to share a couple of pictures with you all - these very well may be the last pictures of Jeff, taken by me on our last chase trip together.

Jeff, you'll be missed, may God Bless you.

-Jay Barnes