Walter “Spence” Spencer was born in Northern Pennsylvania, attended undergraduate school there, and graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering from Penn State.

He always enjoyed the outdoors, including swimming, fly fishing, camping and SCUBA diving. In fact, he worked his way through college by lifeguarding at the New Jersey Shore. After College graduation he accepted a position as a civilian Engineer for the Navy and became a certified SCUBA Instructor. One of his Navy engineering jobs took him to California, and then he transferred to San Diego permanently. After retirement, Spence & Patti moved to Arizona.

In Arizona, Spence purchased a lathe and started taking woodturning classes. He initially took courses at YCC, where he met members of the Prescott Area Woodturners, and joined PAW. As he becomes involved in the Club, he met many interesting people and has enjoyed the past 15 years as a member. He continues to attend numerous woodturning classes and symposiums. All his participation in PAW and variety of studies keeps his woodturning fresh and varied. He cannot wait each day to go to his shop to decide what to create today.