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**JEFF WEAR**

What a horrible tragedy. I pray for serenity for his family and friends. The chasing family has truly lost a great member.
 
I have never met Jeff, or communicated directly with him, since this is my first year on this board. However, even then, his name has stuck in my mind, and I have enjoyed reading his posts and greatly appreciated all of his thoughts, photos, and discussions. I give my heartfelt condolences to his family and friends during this trying time, and Jeff, may you rest in peace.
 
Well, this certainly is a shock. I only knew Jeff Wear from the text he typed, and that crazy upside down tornado avatar. I've seen his website, and he was a great chaser, he died doing what he loved best. May his heaven be infinite CAPE and shear, with just the right amount of cap, and mothership mesos that always generate tornadoes, dancing through open fields.

A salute to you, Jeff Wear!

Rest in Peace. I will dedicate the first thunderstorm I see in Iraq to you!

Dave
 
Very sad news, indeed. I hope I'm not too late to pass along thoughts and condolences. It's a sobering feeling knowing that one of us in here is no longer with us, taken so swiftly, so tragically. Thanks for the picture and post, Mike Deason.
 
I similarly express my condolences to friends and family directly affected by this tragic and great loss. When I saw Jeff's posts on Stormtrack, I made sure to read them, because they were interesting and often contained quite a unique sense of humor and perspective on chasing and life. Although I never formally met him, I knew if I did meet him, he'd be a great guy I'd like to know. My prayers are with Jeff's family and friends.

Warmest Regards,
Chris
 
I myself did not know Jeff personally, but like other chasers I was interested in posts he made on ST because you could learn so much from him. My regards go out to Jeff's family, he will be missed.
 
I offer my deepest condolences to the Wear family. This is indeed a real tragedy, and I pray that God would comfort them during this very difficult time.
 
My Condolences to Jeff's family and friends

Having never met Jeff that I know of (though it was possible over the trips I made to the midwest to chase), I still feel horribly for his family, friends, and the obvious loss to the chaser community. Hopefully he won't have to give up what he loved the most, and blazes a trail for the rest of us whatever the future holds.




:(
 
This is indeed sad news. I am sure Jeff would have felt proud to know that so many chasers have responded to this thread. In some sense, Jeff was returning from something he loved to do.

Life is but a dream.
 
Received an e-mail tonight from Jeff's uncle, though I inadvertently deleted it in my spam filter, and it is gone.

The bottom line is that the family is touched by the outpouring of grief and condolence from the ST community. It is, of course, an amazingly difficult time for all in the family, and our thoughts, words, prayers... and soon to be received gift... are all treasured by the family.

An aside... I, too, am touched by the amount of love shown by fellow chasers to a person many of us never met. While this board has hundreds of members, and most of us have busy lives, I am proud that I can say we are truly a family.

Thanks to everyone.
MP
 
I've done a copious amount of reading on the subject of life after death. While I wish not to open up that can of worms, I can say that the people throughout the ages and various civilizations who have "died" and been "brought back" to life....the large majority of them state that they indeed could "feel" and hear all the love directed at them when others prayed for them.
I firmly believe that Jeff is still "Jeff" in every sense of the word....and that he benefits greatly from this outpouring of love and prayer for him. And his surrounding family of loved ones benefit greatly as well.
Godspeed, Jeff!!
 
I didnt know him either, but I did a google search to find out about the In Memory Of Jeff Wear avatar I had seen on here and I found his website. I read it all and looked at his pics he had taken and its different to look into someones life and love they put onto a blog or site after their passing, I probably never would have found it otherwise.

Rest in Peace.

Mike Robinett
W4UAV
 
Jeff Wear

I just now read about this and would like to add my own condolences to Jeff's family. What come to mind from Scripture is "His works follow after him", or something similar. For storm chasers, Jeff's works -- his posts, photos, video, etc. -- will be his memorial.

The peril of hydroplaning has already been discussed, but fatigue could have also come into play, considering that he was coming home from a long chase. And sometimes stuff happens, like the stupid truck driver who pulled out in front of Evan Bookbinder while he was returning from the 2004 Denver chaser conference, causing him to roll over during evasive manuevers -- at least he survived. And that's the thing -- when you drive as much as you do under adverse conditions, sooner or later stuff happens. And chances are it won't be the softball hailstone, violent tornado, or even well-placed lightning bolt, but something as mundane as hydroplaning or falling asleep at the wheel, or the other driver doing something stupid. New (and old) chasers, take note.
 
Stunned. I've been off the site for about a week, and the first thing I see is this. I got an e-mail from him about a month ago, after I e-mailed him with some questions. What a great guy - really. Just stunned. I haven't read all of the posts on this thread, so this was probably already mentioned somewhere, but I REALLY hope his work is eventually saved. If his family does read all of these posts, let it be known that Jeff will be SO missed by his stormtrack family, and the next time I'm chasing, I will slow it down when it's raining. It could have been me, or a number of others. I feel so.....hard to explain.
 
Having not known him or ever posted here (just a reader) I felt compelled to say something. This is such a horrible tragedy to say the least. My thoughts and prayers are with the Wear family. May God rest your soul, Jeff.

Lauren
 
I haven't read the Weather and chasing forum for a few days and was unaware of this or I would have responded sooner.

I echo the comments made by others that every decision you make could change everything. It is very important that you live your life to it's highest potential because you never know when it could end.

My best to his family and friends.
 
I received an email from Jeff's mother today. I copied a portion of it here that I thought you guys would like to see with her permission.

As you can imagine, we are devastated with our loss of Jeff, but the outpouring of support from his friends in the weather community has been more helpful than you can ever know.

I'm not sure if you've heard this yet, but we found Jeff's video camera in his demolished car, and it survived the crash undamaged. We were able to view the cassette inside when we arrived back in California and many of our questions were answered as to why he took this fateful trip.

His video reveals that he was taping Hurricane Dennis from a parking garage in Pensacola Florida begining at 10:38am on sunday July 10. In the tape we can see he is having the time of his life when the hurricane reaches landfall in the afternoon. He tapes it until the winds reach 85 mph, then goes to a safe place until the storm is over.

After sleeping for awhile in his car, he begins the journey back to Norman, stopping in Mendenhall Mississippi to fill up with gas, then sleeping for awhile longer before continuing on through Texas until the accident happened at 11:05am.
Click to expand...
 
I have never met Jeff, although I have seen him numerous times in the unmistakable COPUNCH machine. I always enjoyed the way he shrugged off a bust chase like it was nothing and joked about it (Year of the Turkey Tower anyone?). May you rest in peace Jeff.
 
I guess like a lot of people here, I'm pretty stunned. Such things don't give you time to prepare anything you can feel is appropriate or to say or even feel is saying enough.
Being a relative newbie here, I can't say I ever got to know him. But I do know the pain of losing someone suddenly through tragic circumstances. If nothing else, I can offer my sincere sympathy. Just wish I could do more.
 
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