Spencer W. Romaine

We who loved him most are left with broken hearts to tell of Spencer William Romaine's passing from our midst on February 26, 2012 after 19 3/4 years of sharing his wonderful presence with us. Spencer's warmth was recognized by everyone who felt it and our fond memories of the spirit of his life are all we have left to sustain us through the indescribable chill of his leaving. Because of its awful finality, we-his loving survivors-must now carry the infinitely sorrowful burden cast by his choice "to take up arms against" his "sea of troubles." Yet even the most unmitigable consequences of the silent disease that took him from us in the flower of his youth cannot diminish the resonance of his almost twenty years among us. He is, to those he left behind, a loving son, an inspiring, gifted debater, a teacher, a mentor, a musician, a fellow traveler, and to all a most respectful, generous, and loving friend.

Spencer graduated in 2010 from Redwood High School in Visalia with a Golden State Merit Seal Diploma and even surpassed this emblem of curricular success by his unfailing devotion and dedication to his school's Mock Trial team. He took from that participation his justified pride in his team's unsurpassed performance when it finished 5"' in the California State Mock Trial Competition in 2009. He captained the team that year. Indeed, even after he graduated, he so loved that team and its members that he dedicated himself to helping to coach "his" team in succeeding years. Spencer's memory will remain alive in the shattered hearts of his mother and his father, those he regarded as his family, his relatives in Canada and the United States, everyone who felt his presence in their lives, and anyone who ever feels his reverberations.

After a private cremation, Spencer's remains will be interred with his maternal and paternal grandparents in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada and his life will be celebrated on a date to be announced this spring in Visalia, where he lived almost all of his life. In lieu of flowers, charitable donations in Spencer's memory will be gratefully preferred. We are sure he would most appreciate those gifts that support the missions either of Mental Health America of California, or the Constitutional Rights Foundation: sponsors of the California State Mock Trial Competition