Obituary of George Sayer

George E. Sayer, 89, of Sun City Center, FL, formerly of Scituate, RI, and Lansdale, PA passed away July 16, 2018. George was born in Providence, RI on July 23, 1928.   He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Nancy (Williams) Sayer, and children, Deborah Arscott, her husband Richard of Dedham, MA,  Robert Sayer and his wife Frances of Richmond, RI,   Russell Sayer of Gastonia, NC, Richard Sayer and his wife Samantha of Meadville, PA. and sister Carolyn Ainsworth of Novato, California.  He leaves behind nine grandchildren:  Daniel, Sarah, Laura, Jeffrey and Rebecca Arscott, Joshua, Jonathan, Matthew and Colleen Sayer, his birthday buddy Patricia Sayer of Hope, RI, and many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his sister Ruth Pearson of  Charlestown, RI and his parents Lillian (McCall) and Raymond Sayer.

George graduated from Mt. Pleasant High School, in North Providence, RI in 1946, and continued his education at Wentworth Institute, Boston, MA in 1948 earning a degree in Industrial Electronics.  He was employed by Brown & Sharp and BIF, both in Providence, RI.  and Leed’s and Northrup in Lansdale, PA where he retired as a Sales Application Engineer in 1995.

He served in the United States Army  1950 - 1952.  He was deployed to Japan and stationed there as  part of the  Headquarters Battery 980th Battalion until his Artillery Division was sent to the 38th parallel in Korea.   He acted in a surveyor capacity.   

George was an avid Lawn Bowler beginning at the age of 13 and promoted the game for 63 years, always teaching and encouraging new bowlers to get them involved in tournaments, and to learn the game so they too could assist other new bowlers, thus growing the sport. He loved playing with his father and his sons, in tournaments across the US and Canada. He won numerous club titles, regional tournament trophies and several divisional crowns. He continued bowling after moving to Sun City Center, FL in 1995.

He dedicated much of his retirement to researching and organizing 3 family genealogies.  The McCall, his Mom’s family originating in Scotland; the Sayer family who arrived in RI in the late 1600’s from England; and the Tinkham family, on his wife’s side which linked the family to Peter Brown of the Mayflower.

George enjoyed the card game cribbage and taught all of his children and many of his grandchildren how to play the game.  He would teach anyone who wanted to learn.  Without thinking he knew all combinations to make a 15 count and understood the strategy better than anyone.  He was as competitive with cards as he was on the bowling green.

After moving to Sun City Center, he became very active in his Home Owners Association, serving on many committees and the Board of Directors several times.  He was most recently on the Architectural Committee until his death.

A celebration of George’s life will be held in RI, sometime in the Spring of 2019.  In lieu of flowers, a donation can be made in George’s name to the Northeast Division Lawn Bowling Association c/o Colin Smith, 43 Oneida Avenue, Lake Hiawatha, NJ 07034, to be used for the promotion of the game he loved and supported.