83R12628 JGH-D

By: Guillen H.R. No. 879

R E S O L U T I O N

WHEREAS, An exemplary life devoted to family, faith, and public service came to an untimely end with the death of Tommy Dean Shearrer of Pleasanton on October 10, 2012, at the age of 56; and

WHEREAS, Tommy Shearrer was born to Carl Dean and Beverly Gail Matthews Shearrer on September 26, 1956; raised on the Perry Feeder's dairy farm, he attended Pleasanton schools, where he was a leading member of FFA, serving as the organization's state president; he went on to attend Southwest Texas State University; and

WHEREAS, In 1977, Mr. Shearrer married his high school sweetheart, the former Sharon Lynn Yow, and they shared a loving relationship for 35 years; they were blessed with two sons, Wesley and Matthew; and

WHEREAS, Over the course of his career in agriculture, Mr. Shearrer raised cattle with his family and worked for many years with the Wilco Peanut Company as a buyer in Jourdanton; he also established Simco Construction, which has been building homes and offices in South Texas for three decades; and

WHEREAS, A fifth-generation son of the Pleasanton area, Mr. Shearrer was a leader in his community for most of his life; he served as an Atascosa County commissioner for eight years, and he also served as president of the Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce and the Pleasanton Airport Board, as a director of the Pleasanton Cowboy Homecoming Association and Texas AgFinance, and as a member of the Alamo Area Council of Governments and the Evergreen Underground Water Conservation District; and

WHEREAS, In recent years, Mr. Shearrer had become a leading advocate of weather modification research and technology, serving as president of the South Texas Weather Modification Association, the Texas Weather Modification Association, and the National Weather Modification Association; he had been interviewed about cloud seeding on the ABC News program Nightline, and he was featured in the critically acclaimed documentary Owning the Weather; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Shearrer was also a man of deep religious faith; he helped found Gateway Church in Pleasanton, serving as an elder and a Sunday school teacher; he was respected and admired by his fellow congregants as a man who lived according to his beliefs and ideals and who was able to express his faith in a frank and plainspoken way; and

WHEREAS, Though it is impossible to gauge the full effect of one man's life, some individuals leave their unmistakable mark on the world as they move through it, and Tommy Shearrer has left behind a legacy that will long resonate in the lives of all who knew him; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 83rd Texas Legislature hereby pay tribute to the memory of Tommy Dean Shearrer and extend sincere condolences to the members of his family: to his wife, Sharon Shearrer; to his parents, Carl Dean "Tinker" and Beverly Shearrer; to his sons, Wesley Dean Shearrer and his wife, Magen, and Matthew Wright Shearrer and his wife, Amanda; to his brothers, Randy Shearrer and his wife, Sharon, and Justin Shearrer and his wife, Natalie; to his in-laws, Dan and Dorothy Yow, Johnny and Mary Yow, Sheryl and Artie Armstrong, and Sandra and Larry Wheeler; to his nieces and nephews, Megan and James Martin, Mindy and Mark Giebel, Melany, Cody, Sadie, and Jason Shearrer, Jimmy and Kandace Bartosh, Jennifer and Chad Wheat, Roper and Amber Yow, Sheila and Kody Babb, Rowdy and Nikki Yow, Brandy and Clint Smith, Bodie Armstrong, and Lauren Eickstead; and to his other relatives and friends; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be prepared for his family, and that when the Texas House of Representatives adjourns this day, it do so in memory of Tommy Dean Shearrer.