Irma Lillian Spencer

Irma Spencer grew up in Roxbury. As a child prodigy, she was an accomplished classical pianist, graduated high school at sixteen, and graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art at twenty with a degree in fashion design. She was a prolific oil painter while her children were young. When they grew older, she studied interior design and earned her certification from the American Society of Interior Designers. She designed home interiors throughout the Boston area from the seventies through the nineties.

In 1975, Irma helped found the Boston Children's Hospital Women’s League, the fundraising arm of the hospital. Until the last few years of her life, she visited children at the hospital every Wednesday and was known to all on the critical care floors as “Granny.”

Mrs. Spencer died on January 16, 2020 in Dedham, Massachusetts. She leaves behind her husband, two children, and four grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Boston Children's Hospital League or the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund are requested.