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Spencer Phelps
Memorial Candle Tribute From
Glover Funeral Home, Inc.
"We are honored to provide this Book of Memories to the family."
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Condolence From: Peter Ognibene
Condolence: I wrote the following message to Spencer's and my high school classmates. We remember Spencer with great affection.

Dear Classmates, Our friend Spencer Phelps died August 11th. Spencer was a regular at our re-unions. I stayed in touch with him quite often by phone, and we visited occasionally. After living in Rockland County for a number of years after high school, Spencer moved to the Dothan area where the sister of his wife, Esther, lived. He seemed quite happy in the Deep South.

Spencer, you may recall, was a very good-looking man. He was also a large man both in height and build. His appetite matched his size. My wife Dorothy tells this story. Spencer sat at our dinner table one evening when she entered the room carrying her artfully presented and aromatic dinner. The sight and smell of the food so excited Spencer, she swears, he actually salivated audibly. He then proceeded to eat enough for two people. Dorothy accepted his enthusiastic display as a great compliment. No one enjoyed hearing that story more than Spencer himself. He would laugh, then respond, “I can’t eat like that anymore.”

Spencer displayed prodigious strength and energy. He told this story about his capacity for work. In his early years in Dothan he purchased a woodlot near his home on which stood many large pine trees. Our old friend then proceeded to log his wooded land by hand using only a chain saw and hand-winch. He pulled and stacked the giant logs onto a flatbed truck using the winch alone. His neighbors were amazed by his industry. He was doing by hand work normally done with giant machines, they told him.

Spencer enjoyed considerable entrepreneurial talent. He purchased a long-haul truck-tractor with the proceeds of his lumbering operation. Then he parlayed the proceeds from his truck-driving years into development of a good-sized trucking company. His company specialized in flatbed trucks hauling machines for the construction industry. He ran the company very successfully for the major part of his career. In this retirement years he continued in the trucking industry as a shipping broker arranging timely transportation for his client's cargoes.

The last couple of years were not kind to Spencer. He lost his beloved wife of many decades, Ester, about two years ago. In the early part of this year he lost vision in one eye to a complication of diabetes.

My comments about Spencer's life must include mention of the sincere commitment he made to his Christian faith. His devotional activities, including charitable works in the Dothan area, earned him many friends and admirers. Not one, but two pastors presided at his funeral. He was a steady and supportive friend. Lord be with him.

Peter Ognibene EHS '58
Friday August 25, 2017
Condolence From: Mark Rappaport
Condolence: My heartfelt sympathies to Spencer's family and friends.We really got along well together in High School, and was a great guy. He will be long remembered by me, and I am sure many many others whoever had contact with him. May he Rest in Peace.
Thursday August 24, 2017
Condolence From: Michael McDonald
Condolence: I have known Spencer for 14 years. He will always be remembered here as a man of great integrity, incredible work ethic, and a tremendous love for his family.
Our prayers and condolences to the family of this great man.
He will be truly missed.
Tuesday August 15, 2017

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