MILDRED CARTER SPENCER, 94

Mildred Carter Spencer died of natural causes on Friday, September 6, 2024, at age 94. She was at home in Tulsa surrounded by family. She was preceded in death by her late husband, Edward Lloyd Spencer. She is survived by:

Children: Stephen Spencer (and Gail Coulter Spencer), Judith Luke (and Thomas Luke), Barbara McMahon, Cynthia Beatty (and James Beatty), Marcia Spencer, and Natalie Spencer

Grandchildren: Abigail Brumley (and Garrie Brumley), Nicholas Simpkins (and Jennifer Simpkins), Rebecca Luke, Victoria Luke, Ian McMahon, Jacob Hartley, and Glen McMahon

Great-grandchildren: Cordelia Brumley, Garrie Brumley, Megan Guy, Jenna Guy, and Zara McGee

Mildred, or "Millie" as she liked to be called, was born in 1930 during the Great Depression on her grandfather's farm in St Johns, Ohio, to Ralph Carter and Thelma Stultz Carter. After her mother's untimely death, she grew up in Pike County Children's Home in Waverly, Ohio, with most of her six brothers and sisters. Despite the hardships of the Depression and several immediate family deaths, she graduated as Valedictorian of her Waverly High School class and went on to study at Jewish Hospital School of Nursing in Cincinnati, where she became a Registered Nurse (RN).

While in nursing school, Millie met her future husband, Edward "Eddie" Spencer, a recent Princeton graduate. He charmed her with his love letters and tenor singing voice, and they were soon married and raising six children in rapid succession. As their family grew, they moved from an apartment in Cincinnati to a house in Anderson Township, just outside of Cincinnati. Eddie bought a half interest in Cincinnati Gold & Silver Refining Company. Millie was an RN in the maternity ward at Jewish Hospital until raising her own children required her fulltime presence.

Eventually, the two bought a home in a more country setting with acreage (still in Anderson Township), and moved their growing children there, where they could run through fields, play in the woods, and take pleasure in the company of not only dogs and cats, but also ponies, cows, chickens, geese, and goats. While there, Millie began working as a school nurse in the Forest Hills School District. This career spanned 27 years and most of the schools. She retired as Head Nurse of the district.

Later, when the kids were grown, Eddie and Millie bought their retirement home in the Watch Point area of Anderson Township, where they lived for the rest of their 69-year marriage until Eddie's passing in 2022. At that point, Millie moved to Oklahoma to live with her daughter, Barb.

Throughout her long life, Millie had many hobbies. She enjoyed flower and vegetable gardening, reading, road trips, genealogy, sewing projects, music, antiques, painting figurines, furniture restoration, baking, making jams and jellies, crossword puzzles, animals, producing community theatre shows, crafts, murder mysteries, and more. But her greatest joy was always family.