George R. Ghearing

George Raymond Ghearing, 95, passed in the early morning of September 20, 2019 with his wife, Evelyn, holding his hand.  He was also lovingly accompanied by Chester Smith and son, Gerry.  As was their custom during their 76 years of marriage, George asked for and received a final kiss just minutes before passing.

Evelyn and George met as children and shortly after graduation from high school they married.  This auspicious date was July 10, 1943.  George, a star baseball and football player, had planned on a career in coaching.  However, World War II was to change his life’s plan.  Shortly after their wedding George left for the Pacific Theater as a member of the United States Marines.  On the morning of September 2, 1945, George Ghearing stood on the shore of Tokyo Bay and watched General of the Army, Douglas McArthur, take a launch out to the battleship U.S.S. Missouri to sign the documents that ended World War II.  George’s Marine unit had the distinction of capturing the last Japanese battleship of the war.  While the timing of George’s career was put on hold, his career ambitions changed.    During his time in the Marines he was trained in telephony, beginning what was to become a highly successful career in the field of telecommunications.  Following his wartime service, George accepted a position with Ohio Standard Company, a predecessor of General Telephone and Electronics. 

George and Evelyn’s family soon grew to four.  In 1951 the Ghearings welcomed their firstborn son, Gerry.  Gilbert was born two years later. The Ghearings were blessed with 7 grandchildren.

Additionally, George and Evelyn were blessed with a large surrogate family of “sons” and “daughters”: Chester, Ed, Larry, Marcia, Pita, Rudy, Richard and Linda.

While in Celina, George and Evelyn joined a small group of friends enrolling in extension classes offered by Ohio Northern University.  George began classes and received his degree in business in 1965. Evelyn soon joined him and graduated in less than three years with a degree in education.   She began her teaching career while George traveled the world on assignments with GTE.  George was transferred to GTE’s state headquarters in Marion in 1963 and Evelyn soon became employed by the Marion City Schools, retiring in 1979.  George followed in 1983.  When possible, Evelyn joined George and even spent a few years with him in Argentina.   Retirement did not last long for this industrious couple as they founded GRG Telecommunications, Inc. in 1984.  George continued to travel the world on behalf of their new venture while Evelyn managed the company in the United States.  This enterprise continued to flourish, employing nearly 100 people and included trips to Burma for the United Nations and to Grenada on behalf of AID, a federal government program providing assistance to foreign nations.  George’s career also took him to Guatemala, Brazil, Russia, Nigeria, Egypt, and the Dominican Republic. George and Evelyn eventually retired from their entrepreneurial adventure in 2002.

For several years George enjoyed “surfing the net” while Evelyn tended 20 acres of roses and flowers at their home in southern Marion County.  

Service to the Marion community was always a large part of George and Evelyn’s life.  Strong advocates of education, they supported The Ohio State University in a number of ways, contributing to the remodeling of Morrill Hall and the construction of Maynard Hall on the Marion campus.  The couple also endowed the Evelyn and George Ghearing Scholarship benefiting students majoring in education, engineering, or business.  Because of their impact on education, the Ghearings were honored as recipients of the Ralph Howard Service Award in 2012, given annually by the Marion campus of The Ohio State University.   They have supported the Marion Family YMCA for a number of years as well as many other community organizations.  They are also faithful members of the Cornerstone Alliance Church.

In the past few years, George’s declining health changed their service to the community, but their love and devotion to each other made them stronger. The care Evelyn provided to George enhanced his life enabling them to celebrate 76 years of marriage.

The Ghearing family would like to especially thank all of the wonderful caregivers that provided such attentive care in George’s last years.  The list of these wonderful individuals and organizations include: Dr. Piacentini, Dr. Kannan, Dr. Nohay, Dr. Singh, Elizabeth Troutman, Ohio Health Home Care, Kindred Hospice Care and many others too numerous to mention.

A service commemorating George’s life will be held at 2:00 p.m. Sunday, September 22, 2019 at Cornerstone Alliance Church.

Donations may be given to Cornerstone Alliance Church in lieu of flowers.

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