Mrs. Spurway was born December 25, 1919, in Ann Arbor, the daughter of Lewis and Myrtie (Forshee) Nixon. She graduated from Ann Arbor High School, and in 1941 she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree with Distinction from the College of Literature, Science and the Arts at the University of Michigan. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, a national scholastic honor society. In 1947 she graduated from the executive secretarial course for college graduates at the Katharine Gibbs School in Boston, Massachusetts.
In 1943 Mrs. Spurway was commissioned an Ensign in the Navy at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. She also as an Ensign attended Naval Training School in Communications at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, before being assigned to the Naval Air Transport Station at Patuxent River Naval Air Station at Patuxent River, Maryland. In 1946 as a Lt. (jg) she was stationed at Oakland Naval Air Station in Oakland, California, on the staff of Admiral “Blackjack” Reeves, Commander of the Naval Air Transport Service. During her assignment in Oakland she was stationed with her brother, Lt. Don L. Nixon, who was serving as an Air Transport Officer at Oakland Naval Air Station, following his tour of duty in the South Pacific.
Following World War II Mrs. Spurway worked for the President of the Rockefeller Foundation, Raymond B. Fosdick, and twelve years as an Administrative Assistant to Gavin K. MacBain, Chairman and CEO of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, both located in New York City.
After residing many years in Baltimore, Maryland, she married Harold R. Spurway of Winnetka, Illinois, On April 30, 1953. Mr. Spurway was Chairman of the Board and CEO of Carson, Pirie Scott & Co. of Chicago, Illinois. After his retirement they lived in Williams Bay on Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and in Stuart and Palm City, Florida.
Mrs. Spurway’s affiliation with the Navy began a life-long interest in travel. She preferred independent travel and pursued the hobby of planning her own itineraries for travel throughout the world during much of her life.
Although Mrs. Spurway left Ann Arbor in 1943 to join the Navy, she remained interested in the City for she and her brother continued to own property along Nixon Road, which road had been named after their father. In 2003 after having left Ann Arbor in 1943, she returned to Ann Arbor where she became a resident of The Meadows of Glacier Hills.
Mrs. Spurway’s husband, Harold R. Spurway, preceded her in death on March 29, 2001 and her brother Don L. Nixon preceded her in death in 2013.
Cremation has taken place and interment in Forest Hills Cemetery will be private.
In memory of Mrs. Spurway memorial contributions may be made to Hearing Loss Association of America, 7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 1200, Bethesda, Maryland 20814 or to a charity of your choice.
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