Isabel Margaret Rickard Spear died at home in East Hampton on May 30, with her daughters, Min Spear Hefner and Kay Spear Gibson, at her bedside. She was 96.
Born on March 1, 1924, in Sherborne in the county of Dorset, England, to Mabel and Reginald Rickard, she was one of six children. As a young girl she attended Lord Digby's School.
During World War II Mrs. Spear worked in Poole Harbour, near Bournemouth, on the south coast of England for the British Overseas Airways Corporation (B.O.A.C.). Its fleet of flying boats, based there, supplied Allied forces in Europe. It was an experience of which she was very proud. In later years she would talk of having heard the voices of the Luftwaffe pilots overhead as she and her family sheltered at night during the blitz.
In 1951 she married John Spear Jr., whom she had met while he was stationed at Poole Harbour with the U.S. Coast Guard. After initially settling in Islip, they moved to East Hampton in 1956, building a house in the village designed by the local architect Alfred Scheffer. Mr. Spear died in 1989.
Mrs. Spear worked at the Ladies Village Improvement Society's Bargain Box, where she enjoyed finding something special for the customers. She volunteered at Guild Hall, ushering for children's programs, in the late 1960s to early 1970s. She loved summer, enjoying picnics at Wiborg's Beach, and sailing with her family on Gardiner's Bay.
She will be remembered for her love of family, her taste and great personal style, and her daily walks to Main Beach, her family said.
Mrs. Spear was cremated. She is survived by her daughters, who live in East Hampton and Amagansett, two grandchildren, John Gibson and Anne Gibson, both of whom live in Manhattan, and two step-grandchildren, Christopher Lawrence of Miami and Bill Lawrence of San Francisco.
