Michael O’Rear looks through materials from his dad’s life. Alf O’Rear, a former Tennessee state representative, died earlier this month.Quietly, in the solemn gray type of the obituaries pages, a proud generation of Americans is disappearing.
For much of the 20th century the so-called Greatest Generation – those born between 1910 and 1924 – formed the moral backbone of the nation.
Presidents John F. Kennedy and George H.W. Bush were members of this generation, a group of Americans who were collectively children during the Great Depression and young adults during World War II. Now, their numbers have dwindled to less than 1 percent of the United States population. Baby boomers, on the other hand, still number more than 73 million and represent more than a quarter of the nation’s population.
The other day, I was in the lobby of the Times Free Press building and I met Michael O’Rear. O’Rear is an early stage baby boomer. Michael’s dad, Alf “Tony” O’Rear, was a World War II veteran and former Chattanooga-area Tennessee state representative. His son was at the newspaper attending to his obit.
The elder Mr. O’Rear, who passed away May 4, grew up in East Chattanooga in the shadow of Missionary Ridge. He survived the Great Depression and stormed the beach at Normandy. Later, he became a bricklayer who worked his way through law school, eventually launching a practice that would span about 60 years. Michael was his only child.