Lawrence C. Shears

1941 - 2023

News story
By Mark Zaborney
Blade Staff Writer

Lawrence C. Shears, who retired as a high school mathematics teacher and afterward guided University of Toledo students in the discipline, died Monday in his West Toledo home. He was 82.

He had Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, his daughter Teresa LePage said.

Mr. Shears was an associate lecturer in UT's department of mathematics and statistics until 2010, according to the university website. He was hired to the UT post after his 1996 retirement from Southview High School in Sylvania, where he had taught for 16 years.

He most often taught pre-algebra to students who needed that grounding before taking higher-level math for their major, Ms. LePage said.

"My dad was very thorough in what he did, and he was very conscientious and very self-sacrificing in what he did," she said.

Often, he provided math guidance his students hadn't gotten in high school, daughter Jeanine Shaffer said.

"He enjoyed the fact that he could help them and give them the potential, that they could learn math - that it wasn't something to be afraid of, it was something they could accomplish," Mrs. Shaffer said.

He began his career in 1963 at Napoleon High School, where he taught biology and ninth-grade general science for about four years. A year-long position at Ottawa Hills High School followed as a science consultant for an experimental project. He then taught biology for 11 years at McCord Junior High School in Sylvania. He also coached the girls basketball team to league success in the 1981-82 season.

Once at Southview, he taught math full time - algebra, geometry, and honors calculus.

"He was a mentor to a lot of his students," Ms. LePage said. "I remember as a child, he would bring home his paperwork. We had to have quiet time - 'Dad's working.' He was fully dedicated to his teaching career."

He expected students to be committed as well.

"He never let anyone take a shortcut," Ms. LePage said. "No calculators. You had to show all your work in order to be able to pass."

He brought patience to the equation.

"He really liked teaching people," Mrs. Shaffer said. "He was an excellent tutor, and he gave the time to his kids and took the time to help them as much as they needed.

"He loved seeing them when they had that aha moment on their faces, when they got it," she said.

At home, he taught his children the value of an education and "mentored us with our Christian faith," Ms. LePage said. "His faith meant everything to him. He tried to instill it in us as we grew up. He knew that Bible backward and forward."

He taught his children to forgive people in spite of their flaws, Mrs. Shaffer said.

"My father was a very loving, nonjudgmental person. He knew people had the capability of changing," she said.

He was a member most recently of Emmanuel Baptist Church, where he volunteered with the food pantry.

He'd been a runner through the years and enjoyed listening to Christian music and to such performers of the 1950s and '60s as the Platters and Nat King Cole.

"He had the most wonderful smile," Ms. LePage said. "He had a great aura about him, to be near him."

He was born April 1, 1941, to Matilda and Willard Shears, and grew up in East Toledo. He was a 1959 graduate of Waite High School, where he was a member of the National Honor Society, was on the bowling team, and worked on the student newspaper.

He received a bachelor's degree from UT and a master's degree from Brown University.

Surviving are his wife, the former Margo Tscherne, whom he married July 28, 1962; son, Michael Shears; daughters Teresa LePage, Patricia Shears, and Jeanine Shaffer; sister, Norma Guilier; half-brother, Fred Kraemer; half-sister, Beverly Cousino, and two granddaughters.

Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday and after 10 a.m. Wednesday at Newcomer Funeral Home Northwest Chapel, where memorial services will begin at 11 a.m. Wednesday.

The family suggests tributes to Emmanuel Baptist Church or Hospice of Northwest Ohio.