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Hugh Brownlow Speer Jr. died May 26, 1999 at St. Francis Place, where he had been a resident since November 1997. He was born October 24, 1910 to Hugh Speer and Augusta Moore in Bovina Center, NY. His early years were spent with his family in Presbyterian pastorates in Omaha, Pittsburgh and Erie, PA. Hugh was a fine athlete, excelling in baseball and football. He attended Monmouth College, and upon graduation, was employed by Marshall Field in Chicago. In 1935, he married Bernadine Jones and they had two daughters, Barbara and Vicki. At the outbreak of World War II, he joined the Navy and was assigned for training aboard the U.S.S. Lake Champlain, an aircraft carrier, and became a Lt. Commander. Following the war, he returned to a new job with the Simmons Co., first in Milwaukee. He soon became supervisor of sales for Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa. At his retirement in 1970, he was living in Dallas as supervisor of the southwest area. In 1972, he and his wife, Bernie, moved to Albuquerque. Hugh loved to travel, and his wife loved to travel with him until her death in 1985. Later, he met and married Reta Elliott and they spent happy years together traveling to Canada and overseas. He is survived by family members, including his wife, Reta; Barbara and Dick Sauerman, Vicki and Jerry Smith; grandchildren, Jeff Smith, Kim Smith, Becky Sauerman-Miller, Rick Sauerman and Mark Sauerman; great-grandchildren are Mackenzie and Jake Miller; step-children, Margaret McCormick, Eric Tietze, Pamela Tietze and Mary Jane Witt; and a brother, Wallace Speer of California. Services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 29, 1999, at Heights Cumberland Presbyterian Church with interment at a later date. Friends wishing to make a memorial gift in Hugh's name may do so to the American Cancer Society or to Heights Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 8600 Academy Rd. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87111. French Mortuary, 1111 University Blvd. NE.
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