1926 – 2015

LISBON FALLS — Wesley D. Spear, 88, of Lisbon Falls, passed away Friday, Jan. 2, after a long illness.

Born on May 12, 1926, he graduated from Lisbon High School in 1944. After graduation, he joined the U.S. Army and was stationed at Fort Knox, Ky., training in tank and brigade. He returned home after World War II ended.

Wesley built his manufacturing shop, Spear’s Machine Shop, in 1949, where he worked his whole life. For the first few years, he built and sold bedroom furniture. Later, he began working with metal, making hundreds of snow plows and inventing the quick switch hookup that is largely used today in log loaders, car crushers and hydraulic cylinders throughout the U.S.

In 1950, he married Shirley E. Gray of Lisbon Falls and had eight children, until they divorced in 1970. He remarried Jackie Smith Fowler and had one son.

Wesley’s greatest hobby was Sandy River Narrow Gauge Railroad in Phillips. He was one of the founders of the railroad and devoted many years of hard work in rebuilding the historic railroad, the station, turn table and box cars, laying miles of tracks and building the engine. He loved talking to people about the railroad and the machinery he built.

He is survived by his children, Phyllis Oravetz, of Texas, Wesley D. Spear Jr. of Virginia, Richard Spear of Virginia, Elaine Knight of Camden, Pam Spear of Auburn, Donna McNally of New Gloucester, Rodney Spear of Greene and Glen Spear of Georgia; several grandchildren and great-grandchildren; and nieces and nephews.

Wesley was predeceased by his daughter, Janice R. Spear, of New Hampshire in 2013; his ex-wife, Shirley Turcotte, of Greene; sister, Cynthia Arndt, of Lisbon Falls; and his mother and father, Walter and Josephine Spear, of Lisbon Falls.