Allen K. Mears
Commander, USN (Retired)

Commander Allen Kennard Mears, USN (Retired) served in the United States Navy as an officer and pilot from 1965 to 1988, rising to the rank of Commander. He graduated with an Associate?€™s degree from the State University of New York at Farmingdale, NY and obtained his Baccalaureate in Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1973.

Upon commissioning as an Ensign in 1966 and designation as a Navy helicopter pilot, he served with Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 9 (HS-9) stationed at Naval Air Station (NAS) Quonset Point, Rhode Island, flying the new SH-3 on Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) missions. Following HS-9's decommissioning, he returned to Pensacola where he served with Helicopter Training Squadron 8 (HT-8), NAS Ellyson Field, Florida, first as a flight instructor in the H-34, then as a Post Maintenance Check Pilot in the H-34 and the newly acquired TH-1L. Following that tour, he was assigned to duty in-country in Vietnam, where he served as Detachment One's assistant, then Officer-in-Charge, with the Seawolves of Helicopter Attack (Light) Squadron Three, (HAL-3), the Navy helicopter gunship squadron, from December 1970 through November 1971. Upon leaving that squadron, he had flown 438 combat missions and had been awarded the Bronze Star with Combat V device and 14 Air Medals, among other combat awards.

During his career, CDR Mears deployed extensively in several squadrons and on many ships. Of note is his assignment to Helicopter Combat Support Squadron 2 (HC-2), in NAS Jacksonville, Florida, where he served as the Officer-in-Charge of the COMSIXTHFLEET helicopter detachment, flying the SH-3G, based aboard the USS Little Rock (CLG-4), home ported in Gaeta, Italy. During that assignment, then LCDR Mears participated in the 1975 Suez Canal reopening ceremonies and led a three-helicopter detachment to New York City in support of the nation?€™s bicentennial celebration. Following his tour in HC-2 he was assigned to the shore duty component of Helicopter Anti-Submarine (Light) Squadron 34 (HSL-34) in NAS Norfolk, Virginia, flying the SH-2F. He followed that tour with extensive deployments on the USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7) as Safety Officer, Assistant Air Boss and as Air Boss, flying the UH-1N. CDR Mears next served as the Ship Suitability Branch Officer at the Naval Air Systems Command in Crystal City, Virginia. In that capacity, he oversaw the helicopter ship certification program and the configuration development and management of the facilities required of different classes of Navy ships to support assigned or transient aircraft. His last Navy assignment was as Publications Department Head and Editor-in-Chief for the Naval Safety Center in NAS Norfolk, Virginia. His safety publications included Approach, Mech and Fathom magazines. Upon his retirement from the Navy in 1988, he received the Meritorious Service Medal.

Following his Navy service, he worked as a senior system engineer for Futron Corporation supporting the commercial space launch industry and then CSSI, Inc. supporting the aviation industry. CDR Mears is married to Sandra Lee Bremer and they reside in McLean, Virginia.

CDR Mears' private life was focused on book collecting and promoting the works and critical reputation of the American poet Robinson Jeffers. In 1987, he was appointed an honorary trustee on the board of the Robinson Jeffers Tor House Foundation. He also was a Charter member of the Robinson Jeffers Association, and held memberships in the Western Literature Association, The Poetry Foundation, and The Book Club of California. Mr. Mears contributed to the publication of several books on Jeffers, most notable among them the five-volume The Collected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers, edited by Tim Hunt, the three-volume The Collected Letters of Robinson Jeffers with Selected Letters of Una Jeffers, edited by James Karman, and His Place For Story: Robinson Jeffers: A Descriptive Bibliography, by Michael Broomfield. CDR Mears' efforts included joining scholarly teams as an outside editor, reviewing text, doing basic research, and proofreading. CDR Mears began his book collection in the 1970s, with a focus on Jeffers, then expanded the collection to include all the works of the renowned printer Russell Maret, many of the works by or about the poet and printer William Everson, and developed an eclectic collection of fine letter press printing and book arts, including the work of Ward Ritchie, Grabhorn Press, Peter Koch, Robin Price, Valenti Angelo, and Richard Wagener, among others.