Moya Olsen Lear, i.e. Mrs. William P.:
She Is Our Lady of Perpetual Motion

Anybody thinks Mrs. William P. Lear is a shrinking violet just hasn't met this spunky, witty, very talented lady whose credentials include induction into the Women in Aviation Pioneers, the Nevada Business Leaders, the Board of Trustees in the Museum of Flight in Seattle, and the Nevada Opera Association.

Moya Lear lives in a beautiful home in Verdi, NV, outside Reno, on forty acres through which the drinkable Truckee River courses its way. Moya has done over her house several times, one of which tickles my funny bone. The Lears' home, called River House, is/was oil heated and had automatic tank refill. A few years back the young man operating the oil refueler filled the Lears' tank and, upon his return to the tank farm turned in his slip. Five hundred and twenty gallons. The manager gave it a cursory glance then turned ashen. "My God, son, the Lears' tank holds only 300 gallons." The oil company sponsored the next do-over.

Moya came by her wit and charm by careful selection of antecedents. Her father, Ole Olsen, was a gifted vaudevillian who partnered up with Chic Johnson. Olsen and Johnson were a hilarious team, playing all over USA but particularly noted for their smashing hit, Hellzapoppin, which played on Broadway and set records as one of the longest running hits ever. Moya was the head guru backstage and into that hubbub came William Powell Lear, who wooed and married her in 1942, the one and only man in her life.

After Bill Lear sold Lear Jet to Charley Gates they settled in Beverly Hills, but not for long. Bill had his own Lear Jet and, on a trip to Alaska, met a man who changed their whole lives. His name escapes me but he persuaded Bill that he ought to come to Reno. "There is a great opportunity to buy Stead Airport, all 3,000 acres, and develop it," he told Lear.

So Bill schlepped off to Reno and spent a lot of time there. Finally Moya wrote him a letter, which she still has, from this mansion in Beverly Hills. It said, "My darling, I want you to know that I will never, never move to Reno, Nevada." Moya has now spent over a quarter century there and says, "The only way that I will ever move from River House is feet first." Stead Airport became a cash cow for the Lears.

Life with Bill Lear was no picnic. He could be irascible, impatient (patience was not his strong suit), profane, demanding and tough. His peccadilloes were legendary but he had but one true love and that was Moya, the knowledge of which sustained her throughout. Moya was his fourth wife, and his last. Moya's devotion to her children John, Shanda, David and Tina can only be compared to a lioness guarding her cubs. She virtually lives for them, bestowing gobs of love on them as well as her grandchildren and great grandchildren.

I spoke with her recently. All the family were thereI said "What's the head count, Moya?" She replied, "Heavens, I have no idea."

Her generosity is also noteworthy. She gave a million dollars to the Reno Opera Guild. She established a garden in downtown Reno. Its centerpiece is a large granite stone on which is mounted a brass scale model of a Lear Jet Model 23, the first one. She gives much time to civic projects yet makes time to give speeches around the country. She is an excellent speaker, her charm and wit shining through with more requests for her appearance than she can fulfill.

After Bill died she became chairman of LearAvia, with every one of the hundred employees ready to work gratis to make the Learfan successful. If Bill had lived there would be hundreds of Learfans flying worldwide. There were 295 on firm order when the Arabs bought in and mismanaged the whole schmear down the tube.

Moya's life with Bill did have many great moments. They flew worldwide, meeting heads of state, kings and queens, movie stars. Frank Sinatra bought a Lear Jet and months later in Bill's office in Wichita Bill asked Frank, "How do you like your Lear Jet?" Sinatra said, "Bill, it's off the wall." Nixon, Glenn, Goldwater, Ford, Kaye, Bush, Armstrong, Thatcher, Truman, Mantz, Beech, Hope and King Michael are all names on Moya's Christmas card list.

There were many memorable flights. In 1939 Bill and Moya enroute Santa Monica-LGA crashed in Bill's Staggerwing Beech after the engine failed. They landed in a muddy field and the airplane tipped over. No one was hurt. It was only the second flight that Moya had ever taken.
In June 1956 Bill and Moya flew their twin Cessna into Moscow, Lear being the first private pilot allowed to land in the Soviet Union.

Moya was the perfect wife for Bill Lear. Besides loving her and savoring her counsel he was very generous. After he sold Lear Jet he had mucho dinero so one day he said," OK, Mommie, now you can have that diamond ring." So Moya called Tiffany's, who made house calls for select clients. The man came over, and unrolled the black velvet containing a king's ransom in diamonds. "I want that one," she said. "That will be eight," said the Tiffany person. So Bill wrote a check for eight thousand. "No, Mr. Lear, the diamond is eighty thousand..." Lear didn't blanche. He tore up the check and wrote a new one for eighty.

The diamond really is beautiful, just like its owner, Moya Olsen Lear.

By Torch Lewis