James Robert Spencer

James Robert Spencer was born August 12, 1936 in Westlake, Louisiana, to Alfred and Daisy Spencer. James was the youngest of 6 children: Marshall, Juanita, Mary Louise, Elizabeth and Maxie. 

After high school he moved to San Francisco to live with his sister, Juanita. He got a job at United Airlines washing airplanes and retired 40 years later as a mechanic. 

In 1959 he met his wife Barbara who he married November 14, 1959. He went into the Army in 1960, and was stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska. His first daughter Lisa was born in Fairbanks April 20, 1961. Their second daughter Christina—  "Tina"—  was born March 10, 1962, in San Francisco, . 

They lived in San Francisco until 1972, when they moved to San Jose. In 1976, they move to Belmont to be closer to work at the San Francisco airport. They lived in Belmont for 22 years before moving to their current home in Las Vegas.  

The # 1 JR and Barbara enjoyed having parties at their home. They had birthday parties, Christmas parties, luau's, summer parties. If there was anything to celebrate, they had a party.  

He and Barbara regularly attended the Monterey Jazz Festival. They went to the Jazz festival for over 20 years. They owned a 260Z and were members of the Z sports car club. They attended many events with the club. They were also members of the Black Ski Club. These were activities they enjoyed with their many friends.  

The #1 JR was a dresser. When he went out to the Jazz clubs in Las Vegas, he was clean....He always had a nice car, nice clothes and went to nice places. Many of the hotel maître d' knew him by name.  

The #1 JR was a sports fan. His teams were the San Francisco 49ers, Golden State Warriors and the San Francisco Giants. He attended the Pro Bowl in Hawaii for many years. He continued to follow his teams when he moved to Las Vegas. He was know to be dressed in 49er attire. He looked sharp.  

James enjoyed traveling. He and his family went on cruises, traveled around the United Stated and Mexico. He traveled to Seoul Korea with his United Airlines friends many times. He spent a great deal of time traveling to visit his family in Louisiana and Texas.  

James Loved his family:
Daughters: Lisa and Tina; 
Grandchildren: Michael, Kayla, Christopher, Samantha and Cameron; 
Great-grandchildren: Logan, Maya and Henry; 
Son-in-law Michael; and Dale, Samantha's husband.
He talked about them often and was very proud.

Even though his granddaughter Samantha was in England, she along with her husband Dale and baby Henry spoke with him via WhatsApp often. Henry would always smile with he saw his face. 

The last few months of his life were full. As he always said, "I'm on the go!" He went on a cruise to Mexico with Lisa and Tina, and went to his nephew Joe's Crawdad festival in Houston Texas, where he was able to see his many nieces, nephews and friends. He came to California to attend his daughter Lisa's retirement party where his grandson Michael played music on his saxophone, and his grandson Christopher was the DJ for the party. He went to the Alameda County fair to see his grandson Christopher host Karaoke and his son-in-law Michael perform standup comedy. He attended the wedding of his great-niece Mary and her husband Rudy at San Francisco City Hall. He even went to Disneyland for his 88th birthday. He rode Dumbo with his friend Josh and went on rides like It's a Small World and watched the parade with his great-grandchildren Logan and Maya, his grandchildren Kayla and Cameron, and daughter Tina.

 At the end of September he moved to assisted living. He was known for his dancing when they had musicians perform. Some of his favorite things to do there was play bingo with the residents, play checkers with his good friend Joanne and eat ice cream.

 The #1 JR is missed, but he had a good time and made friends everywhere that he went.