Alice Lusarreta Spendlove was born April 9, 1927 in Miami, Arizona and moved to California two years later. She graduated from Roosevelt High School in Fresno, CA then attended Woodbury College in Los Angeles where she graduated with a degree in Art and met her future husband, Clifford Spendlove.
After graduation, she worked for two years in the Art Department of a well-known L.A. advertising agency on Wilshire Boulevard. After marriage she moved with her husband to Merced, where she worked for the Merced Union High School District for 33 years. She worked at all of its campuses at the time: El Capitan, in Merced, The North and East Campus of Merced High School, Atwater and Livingston. She worked as attendance secretary, student body secretary, attendance liaison officer and Spanish language translator.
When she retired in 1988, Mrs. Spendlove received many accolades and letters of appreciation from the State Department of Education, Governor Deukmajian’s office and recognition from the California Association of Supervisors for Child, Welfare and Attendance (CASCWA).
She served a year as President of the PTA of Hoover High School in the 1960s and many years as both President and Board Member of the Merced School Employees Federal Credit Union. She was one of 7 founding members of the MSEFCU in 1954.
The Class of 1970 at Merced High School dedicated their yearbook to her. Most recently, she served on the Bloss Hospital Scholarship Committee.
She enjoyed spending time with her family, traveling, playing bridge and reading. She will be remembered by her family and friends for her amazing ability to remember names and faces, no matter how many years later, for her helpfulness to the many students with whom she worked over the years and never forgot and for her wit, her warmth and her wisdom.
She was preceded in death by her husband of over 65 years, Clifford Spendlove. Survivors include her son, Stephen Spendlove, her daughter, Sherrie Spendlove, her son in-law Fernando Guerrero, and her 3 grandchildren, Micah, Tiffanie and Peter Gallo.
Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to the Alice and Clifford Spendlove Prize in Social Justice, Diplomacy and Tolerance at UC Merced, 5200 Lake Road, Merced, CA, 95343 or to the charity of the donor’s choice.
A celebration of Alice and Clifford Spendlove’s life will be held on Sunday, November 1, 2015 at 11:00 a.m. at Stratford Evans Merced Funeral Home, 1490 B Street, Merced, CA, 95340.
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