She was born Feb. 2, 1915, in rural Burlington, the daughter of Walter W. and Louie Emma (Milner) Warthen. She attended Lauderdale Rural School and LeRoy High School before the family moved to Chester, Neb., where she graduated from high school. She earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Kansas State Teachers College in Emporia.

Mrs. Spencer was a teacher in Coffey, Anderson and Osage counties for 28 years. She also taught for a short time in Lordsburg, N.M., and was a substitute teacher in Burlington.

She was baptized in Pleasant Hill Church and was a member of St. John Lutheran Church in Aliceville until she transferred to Trinity Lutheran Church in Burlington. She was a member of Business and Professional Women, Kansas National Education Assn., Lutheran Women’s Missionary League and Pleasant Hill Ladies Aide. She had been a resident of the Life Care Center since 1997.

She married Herald Melvern Spencer on April 30, 1939, in Aliceville. He died Dec. 19, 2001.

Survivors include a son, Walter Charles Spencer, Lawrence; two daughters, Ruth Ann Wilks, Alvin, Tex., and Herla Sue Overbey, Stafford, Va.; seven grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

An infant grandson died earlier.