The Spencerport community lost part of its “historical backbone” July 21, when Raymond K. Spencer, age 92, passed away. “He was the great-great grandson of Daniel Spencer for whom Spencerport is named,” says Betty Spencer, his widow.
A memorial service is planned for Saturday, August 20 at 11 a.m. at the First Congregational Church of Christ (The White Church) with a wake to follow at the Spencerport Exempts, family members say.
“He was a very good parent, a very involved parent and proud of his heritage in Spencerport,” Betty says. Ray and Betty’s son, David, agrees his dad was, “very much involved in family.”
In addition to his family, Ray Spencer also served the Spencerport community throughout his life. David says he was an early member of the Spencerport Volunteer Ambulance when it formed in the mid-1960’s.
“In the beginning he served as a medic,” David remembers. He says the SVA was first housed where the Unique Shop is now located on Union Street. “We would go to church and then walk onto Union Street under the window,” David says. His dad would be there and would come to the window to speak with the family.
Betty Spencer says Ray was very active when the SVA was first organized, and for his entire life, “believed in and supported the Spencerport Ambulance anyway he could.”
Ray Spencer was an active member of the First Congregational Church, singing in the choir, serving on various boards, and working to maintain the structure, Betty and David say.
Betty remembers Ray for his sense of humor and David remembers his dad’s dread of driving in the winter months.
“All the years he worked at Kodak, he was part of a carpool with a group of guys,” David says. Each carpool member had a day of the week on which he did the driving and Ray drove on Wednesday. Invariably, the worst snowstorms always seemed to come on Wednesdays, David notes. “He would begin worrying about winter weather on the third of July,” he says of his dad.
Ray did enjoy spending time in the warm snowless summer months camping, and the family would travel to the Adirondacks each summer to spend a week, David recalls. Ray once made a cross-country camping trip with a couple of friends, he adds.
In addition to Betty and David, Raymond Spencer is survived by son Dan and his wife, Maria, daughter Carol, David’s wife Paula and five grandchildren: James, Sarah, Evan, Jeffrey and Jason.
Memorials may be made to the White Church – the First Congregational Church of Christ – and the Spencerport Fire Department.
