BARBARA B. GEAR, 76 Owned, operated area doughnut shops

YOUNGSTOWN -- Memorial services will be at 10 a.m. Friday at Rossi Bros. Funeral Home in Boardman for Barbara B. Gear, 76, of 2721 Sierra Drive, who died Tuesday morning in Forum Health Northside Medical Center.
Mrs. Gear, also known as "Babs," was born July 16, 1924, in Port Talbot, Wales, a daughter of Richard and Ethel Stevens Hemming, and came to the area 31 years ago.
She owned and operated Not Just Donuts for nine years and retired in 1993, and also owned Dunkin' Donuts on Market Street and Mahoning Avenue.
She was a member of the Church of England and was a member of one of the first Women's Battalions in the British Army during World War II. She was stationed in Belgium as an anti-aircraft spotter.
Besides her husband, Joseph C., whom she married Sept. 3, 1947, she leaves two sons, Christopher S. and R. Collin, both of Youngstown; a daughter, Jo-Anne Gear of Youngstown, with whom she made her home; two sisters, Valerie Anderson of Essex, England, and Mary Prime of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.
A son, Joseph L., died in infancy, and a brother, Ronald Hemming, and a grandchild are also deceased.
There are no calling hours.
3/15/01