She was a teacher in the Chesapeake Public Schools for 30 years, teaching second grade and then kindergarten, mostly at Georgetown Elementary School. After her retirement from teaching, she was a sales clerk at The School Box, a teacher-supply store, for 18 years. She loved teaching and loved the many children she taught through the years.
She was a longtime member of first Virginia Beach Community Chapel and later First Baptist Church of Norfolk. She was an animal lover who had many pets, especially cats, through the years, and she supported many animal welfare organizations. She leaves behind two cats, Kacy & Kali. She was also active in and helped many fellow clients at the REACH Center, formerly in Williamsburg, Virginia.
She earned a B.A. from Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia in 1966 and a M.A. from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina in 1968. After her graduation from Duke, she served as the youth director for First United Methodist Church of Parkersburg, West Virginia. When she moved to Virginia in 1970, she was the youth director of Epworth United Methodist Church in Norfolk until starting her public school teaching career.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Mary Frances “Perk” McCaffrey Spencer and her father, Robert E. Spencer; by her stepmother, Norma Jean Spencer; and by her brother, Robert E. Spencer, Jr.
She is survived by her brother and sister-in-law, Dana and Kitty Spencer of Belpre, Ohio; her sister-in-law, Lora Spencer of Portsmouth, Virginia; two stepsisters, Marcia Baran and Cheryl Wright, both of Charlotte, North Carolina; a stepbrother, Greg Wright of Merritt Island, Florida; two nieces and their husbands, Beth Grant and John of Hampton, Virginia and Amy Church and Jayson of Belpre, Ohio; and two nephews, Bob Spencer of Newport News, Virginia and Andy Spencer of Walland, Tennessee; plus four great-nieces and three great-nephews.
There will be a visitation time for family and friends at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, April 13, 2021, at First Baptist Church of Norfolk, with a funeral service following at 11 a.m. Burial will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to First Baptist Church of Norfolk.
