Moncrieff Johnston Spear, 95, of Indianapolis, IN, died Saturday, October 22, 2016.  Monty Spear, son of Lois Sutherland Spear and Moncrieff Hamilton Spear, loving husband of Lois Stamey Spear passed away at his home in the Marquette senior community.  He is survived by his wife, Lois, and his children, Stephen, Jeffrey and Karen.  He is also survived by six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Monty Spear was born in New York City on September 24, 1921.  He grew up in White Plains, NY, graduating from White Plains High School in 1939 and going on to attend Middlebury College in Vermont from 1939-1942.

He was commissioned an Ensign in the United States Navy following the entry of the U.S. into World War II, training as a Naval Aviator flying the Grumman Avenger torpedo bomber.  He spent two years flying anti-submarine patrols in the South Atlantic, participating in the sinking of U-860 on June 15, 1944, for which he was awarded the Navy’s Distinguished Flying Cross.  With the surrender of Nazi Germany, he was transferred to the Pacific theater where he participated in the Okinawa Campaign.

Monty completed his college education after the war, graduating from Cornell University with a BA in 1946.  From there, he went on to earn an MA from George Washington University in International Relations in 1949 while working as an intelligence analyst for the U.S. Department of State.  He was commissioned an officer in the U.S. Foreign Service in 1950, and spent the rest of his career with the State Department, serving overseas tours of duty in Berlin (Germany), Manila (the Philippines), Belgrade (Yugoslavia), Bangkok (Thailand), Nassau (the Bahamas), and Nha Trang (Vietnam).  Monty’s stateside duties included service on President Kennedy’s Berlin Taskforce during the Berlin airlift crisis in 1961, and as Acting Director of the State Department’s operations center during the Cuban missile crisis in 1963.

After retiring from the State Department in 1979, Monty worked on the Presidential campaign staffs of George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.  He also did consulting work for the State Department’s Office for Micronesian Status Negotiations and served as the Secretary-Treasurer for the Committee for a Community of Democracies.  He is also the author of To End the War at White Plains, a history of the American Revolutionary war campaign of 1776 in Westchester County, NY.

Monty and Lois left their long-time residence at 5141 Massachusetts Avenue in Bethesda, Maryland to relocate to Marquette Senior Living in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the fall of 2010.  He will be greatly missed by his family and many friends from around the world.

A memorial service will be held at Marquette Senior Living, 8140 Township Line Road, Indianapolis, Indiana on Saturday, November 5, 2016 at 11:00 a.m.

Interment will take place at a later date at Rock Creek Cemetery, St. Paul’s Episcopal Parish, Washington, DC.