Howard Spencer McCown

Howard Spencer McCown died on October 10, 2026 of heart failure in Monterey, California. He was 91. Professionally, he was known as Howard, but to his friends and family he was Spencer. The second eldest of four children, Spencer was born in Mineral Wells, Texas in 1935 to Deemer McCown and Edna McCown, nee Howard. The family migrated from Texas to California in 1939, settling in Kern County, where his father worked for DiGiorgio Farms.

Spencer attended both Greenfield Elementary School and Bakersfield High School with the young girl who would become his wife after their high school graduation, Patricia Joan Clark.

Pat and Spencer moved north to Alameda, California in 1954, where Spencer apprenticed as a machinist at the Naval Air Station, later becoming a planner and estimator. He spent his career with the civilian Navy in Alameda and raised his family in nearby San Leandro.

Spencer was a man of many talents and a myriad of interests. He was a painter and photographer; he played the guitar, ukulele, and cello; he was an accomplished woodworker; and in his younger years he ran half marathons, sailed his boat in the San Francisco Bay, rode his Bultaco motorcycle in Twain Harte with his friends, Larry and John; and got his diving certification. In his seventies, he took up the string bass and would ride BART with his bass to his lessons at the Berkeley Jazzschool. He loved movies, Hemingway’s short stories, and Peet’s coffee.

But Spencer’s greatest love was being a family man. He was dearly devoted to his wife, Pat, his constant companion. A former president of the PTA at his daughters’ elementary school, he never missed a parade, concert, play, or horse show that his daughters participated in. He was a very active father in the days when not many fathers were. He loved fishing with his daughter, Julie, at Lake Chabot, and taking long walks around the lake with his daughter, Stacey. He was a devoted grandfather as well. His grandson Connor loved to go camping with Papa; he taught his grandson, George, how to throw a baseball and introduced him to woodworking; and he spent many hours with his granddaughter, Sarah, laughing and enjoying their favorite BBC shows together late at night.

Spencer’s last few years were spent in Marina, California, with Pat and near family, courageously facing kidney disease. His dialysis nurse called him her “brave warrior,” as his strength and determination were remarkable, as was his humor through it all.

He was the last of his family of origin; he outlived his sister, Merlene Nairn, and his brothers, Van McCown and Jack McCown. He leaves behind his wife of 72 years, Patricia; his daughter Stacey McCown and her husband, Robert Richmond; his daughter Julia Fleck and her husband, Todd Fleck; grandchildren Sarah Jagels, George Spencer Jagels and his wife, Beth; Connor Fleck and his wife, Mackenzie; and great-grandchildren Mimi Jagels, Paul Jagels, and Hudson Fleck.

His was a life well lived, and a soul well loved. He will be dearly missed.