Farewell, Ms. Spencer
I previously mentioned that my niece is graduating from high school this year. With the coming of the end of the school year, there are a host of ceremonies and banquets that students like my niece get to attend in honor of their achievements. In the past week and a half, my niece has attended three or four such events.
When I realized that my niece had recently attended the 3.5 banquet for honors students where you invite a teacher who has had an impact on your life to go with you, it made me think of my own attendance at the same banquet during my senior year in high school.
I attended Renaissance High School, so there were a lot of people at the banquet from my high school. Still, the great pleasure was to see old elementary school friends who had attended different high schools. I would imagine that I also provided a surprise for them, not only with my attendance, but by bringing along a teacher that we shared at our elementary school. That teacher was Ms. Cynthia Ann Spencer.
I remember that Ms. Spencer was so excited to go to the banquet, as she had never been asked before. To be asked by a student to go to this banquet must, I imagine, speak miles to a teacher. I know from experience that teaching can be a quite thankless job at times. To be recognized for it, especially in your lifetime, had to have been a rare, but cherished, occasion. She brought a gift for me to the banquet and everything, which included some books that I still have on my shelf today.
Ms. Spencer was my fifth grade teacher at Margaret R. MacCulloch Elementary (now the building for Stewart Elementary), and I believe that I had her for at least part of fourth grade, too.
Many students probably viewed Ms. Spencer as just a hard task master, who was unreasonably harsh at times. I believe that such students, though, are those that forgot that in between strict discipline and firmness, she was also kind, extremely caring on a very personal level, and that she taught us how to line dance to Marvin Gaye and James Brown.
I did not experience much of the direct “wrath” of Ms. Spencer, mainly because I was generally a good student. On the other hand, I do clearly remember moments when it was evident that she cared about my well-being and future more than any other teacher, probably to date. As a result, I ended up forming a personal bond with Ms. Spencer that continued well after I left MacCulloch.
I visited Ms. Spencer at the school several times throughout my life. When I was not directly in contact with her, my parents kept up a relationship with her, as well. The school, after all, is still around the corner from where my parents live. My parents talked to her by phone, and when she still taught at the school, they would sometimes visit her.
As often happens, though, we lost contact. I was left to just asking about her in hopes that someone had heard something and to just wondering. Thus, the remembrance of the banquet naturally sparked a conversation about Ms. Spencer between my younger sister and I.
It broke my heart when my father came to pick up a recommendation later that he had dictated to me and told me that Ms. Spencer had passed away from a heart attack. I was saddened, but I have found that when you treat people right during their and your life, it is much easier to make peace with their passing. The best way to get to this point is to show people love while they are alive, and be kind to all people, regardless of how they treat you.
What really bothered me about this passing, though, was the fact that she died more than thirty days ago and had been in the morgue all that time. How does this happen?! I supposed that this kind of thing happens far more often that I know, but I had never seen it first hand until now.
Ms. Spencer never had any children that I know of besides us school children. I know that her mother was alive when I took her to the banquet, but that was more than fifteen years ago. I know she had been married once to an African man because she told my sister and me the amusing story of how the marriage ended one of the last times that we visited her. I do not think that she married otherwise. I guess that it is not really too far off to think that it might take a while for someone to notice that she was gone, and to put some effort into actually looking for her beyond a phone call. My parents only found out about the memorial because a family friend who was also a teacher and knew Ms. Spencer at some point, called them this morning to tell them, just in case. The memorial for Ms. Spencer is at Mcfall Brothers Funeral Home in Detroit from three to five today.
For those who remember the good times and prefer a different way of mourning celebrating life, listen to the sounds of James Brown and dance like Ms. Spencer taught us to dance:
RIP Ms. Spencer. I will truly miss you. Download the memorial program here.
I learned how to play Chess because of Ms. Spencer. She started a Chess club at Macculloch while I was there. I’ll always remember that. I’ll also remember that I saw her at one of my high school homecoming dances LOL.