Terry Spear was born September 3, 1947, in Miles City MT to Gordon Wesley and Alice Lorraine Spear, the first of five children, and according to Alice’s stories, he was a curious and articulate child, reading early, and a natural athlete.
Terry graduated from Custer County High School in 1965 with excellent grades resulting in an academic scholarship to the University of Chicago. While in high school, he played basketball, participated on the debate team, and played in the band, including playing at the Rose Festival in Portland OR in 1964. In the summers, he participated in the Barn Players Summer Theater, and played baseball. He then went to MSU for a bit, after which he served in the Army as a medic for one tour of duty in Vietnam, and was then stationed in Nellingham, outside of Stuttgart, Germany, for a year. While in Germany, he learned to play the guitar, wrote numerous songs and taught others how to play.
Terry earned his undergraduate degree in English Literature from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN in 1974, graduating with honors, and had a Rockefeller Brothers grant for a trial year in seminary at Yale Divinity School. He returned to MT and graduated from the University of Montana Law School, second in his class. Terry is fondly remembered by his law school friends, according to classmate Jim Reynolds, as “Rocket Arm”, the student who has his arm up first in almost every classroom discussion. He started his law career at the Crowley Law Firm in Billings in the litigation department in 1978, and concluded it when he became an Administrative Law Judge for the Human Rights Commission, MT Department of Labor and Industry for 20 years, during which time he was reversed just twice. He retired in 2016. During this time, he also umpired for Little League and high school basketball, baseball and football around Montana.
During the last 15 years or so of his life, since he couldn’t cook his way out of a paper bag, he played his 12-string guitar for his dinner nearly every night while his wife, Ann, cooked. It was a very enjoyable time for both the player and the listener. He loved to read and debate. He was also very happy with a bowl of popcorn or even bigger bowl of ice cream. He also enjoyed the theater and symphony and was very attached to Gracie, the border collie, whom he faithfully walked three times a day.
Terry had a vast network of friends to whom he was devoted, in both love and wisdom. He was famous for saying “if you don’t want to feel no darned good, you have to stop doing the things that are no darned good”. Only he didn’t say “darned”. He believed in the power of attention, and gave you his best in every encounter. He listened to his friends. He asked them questions. He shared his own. He was an independent thinker, a thoughtful iconoclast, quick to question dogma, traditions and conventions, and yet quick to accept and use those traditions that proved to work well. He brightened and uplifted so many lives, and the positive ripples of his impact will go on. And as he began to slip away from us, he showed us how to meet impossible situations with serenity, grace, and peace. His family and friends will miss him deeply. Terry died of Alzheimer’s early in the morning of December 1st.
Terry is survived by his wife, Ann Dooling, his children Rachel (Stephen) Baker, Michael (Christin) Spear and their children Lillian, Jay and Zachary, and Christopher Spear; his stepsons Steven, Thomas and Joseph Dooling; his former spouse Lana Rae; siblings Randy (Janice Munsell) Spear, Kimberley (Michael) Spear, Kirtlye (Neil Powell) Spear, and Allison (Jerry) Harmon. He was preceded in death by his parents, Gordon and Alice Spear, and stepson Andrew Dooling.
His funeral will be Friday, December 12th, at 10:30, at St. Peter’s Cathedral on Park Avenue, following with a reception in the Undercroft. There will be a military graveside service at the VA Cemetery at Fort Harrison at 1:30.
Service Schedule
Memorial Service
10:30 a.m.
Friday December 12, 2025
St. Peter's Episcopal Cathedral
511 Park Avenue
Helena, Montana 59601
Reception
Following the Memorial Service
Friday December 12, 2025
Undercroft
511 Park Avenue
Helena, Montana 59601
Military Honors
1:30 p.m.
Montana State Veterans Cemetery
Heroes Road
Helena, Montana 59636
Service Schedule
Memorial Service
10:30 a.m.
Friday December 12, 2025
St. Peter's Episcopal Cathedral
511 Park Avenue
Helena, Montana 59601
Reception
Following the Memorial Service
Friday December 12, 2025
Undercroft
511 Park Avenue
Helena, Montana 59601
Military Honors
1:30 p.m.
Montana State Veterans Cemetery
Heroes Road
Helena, Montana 59636
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Tim Mehrens says
I was fortunate enough to spend countless hours with Terry, sharing our journey toward a better life. We didn’t just connect in meeting rooms; we also spent a lot of “windshield time” together, traveling to cities all across the Western and Midwestern US!
Through it all, three things were always consistent about Terry: his gentle soul, his bright mind, and his wonderfully open heart. He possessed these qualities even when enduring my (sometimes excessively loud) rock and roll music when we took a break from our discussions of all things great and small as we trudged the road of happy destiny.
He brightened and uplifted so many lives in this sometimes troubled world of ours, and the positive ripples of his impact will surely go on forever.
Sara Medley says
Ann, I am so sorry for your loss. Reading his beautifully written obituary, I wish I had known him longer and better. A remarkable man married to an even more remarkable, woman. You are such a courageous woman. I hold you in the highest regard and know that your faith and constitution will see you through yet another difficult period in your life. With love and admiration.
John L. Moore says
Prayers to all of Terry’s family. Because he was the eldest of the Spear siblings, I never met Terry until a few years ago. What a nice man.
Marc Buyske says
Jan and I send our condolences to Ann and the rest of Terry’s family. Terry was an extraordinary law school classmate, and though a “rocket arm” in class, I enjoyed (and learned much) from Terry’s give and take with our professors. Terry’s decisions as an administrative law judge were well reasoned and have had a profound and lasting effect in Montana jurisprudence. Requiescat in pace, Terry.
Marc and Jan Buyske
Allan V Stricker says
Randy, Kim, kirtlye, and Allison,
My sincerest condolences on the loss of your brother. We were friends from the time were old enough to walk – literally. Growing up across the alley and then two doors down, playing together (wiffle ball against your garage door, baseball at the intersection or at my grandparrent’s large lawn and basketball on the driveway at our garage). All the trials, tribulations, and joys of growing up together (think Mr. Clean) we all went through are just memories.
Think of the good and great times!!
Allan Stricker