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Lillian “Dean” Spencer, 83, of Kalkaska, passed away on July 5, 2015 at Cherry Hill Assisted Living in Kalkaska, in the loving company of her family. She was born on Sept. 17, 1931 in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, the daughter of the late Charles and Agnes (Clayton) McCall. Dean graduated from University High School in Ann Arbor in 1949. At University High, she met her future husband Jack, and mother-in law Jean, a school administrator who would later mentor Dean in her teaching career. After receiving her teaching degree from Eastern Michigan University, Dean began her elementary school career teaching multiple grades in a one-room schoolhouse in the Ypsilanti area, a management experience that would leave a lifelong impression on Dean, and later on, her children. Jack and Dean married at the First Baptist Church in Ypsilanti in 1956 following Jack’s discharge from the U.S. Air Force. Jack’s career as an aircraft specialists took the young couple to San Diego for an impressionable stint in the California sunshine. Jack and Dean returned to northern Michigan in 1960, with the (mostly) shared dream of owning their own business. Dean’s entrepreneurial career started under the watchful eye of a stuffed buffalo, as she and Jack became the proprietors of Taffel Town USA, a fun, country log road-house south of Kalkaska, near Smith’s Landing. After many enjoyable years at Taffel Town, and still bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, Dean’s next venture, Deano’s Pizza in Kalkaska, allowed the couple to move closer to town and schools during this busy phase of life. In 1973 Jack and Dean built Country Lanes Bowling Alley in South Boardman, where Dean applied her considerable organizational skills to youth bowling, earning her Michigan’s "Proprietor of the Year" award in 1980. Dean concluded her working career doing the business accounting for Kalkaska Family Practice, working for a wonderful group of doctors in a capacity that she cherished and enjoyed. Dean and Jack loved spending summers with friends and family at their beloved cabin on Horse Island, Ontario, Canada. They enjoyed a break from snow by wintering in Las Vegas for over 20 years, where Dean especially enjoyed access to the variety of shows and buffets in the company of her many snowbird friends who ventured west for the winter, or for a special weekend. As always, Dean remained as the rock-solid center of her family across the generations, and was forever available to offer a sympathetic ear, sage advice, or a helping hand. Dean is survived by her husband Jack of 59 years; her four children, daughter Darby (William) Kelso, of Traverse City and, David Spencer of Elk Rapids, Gail (Dennis) Grammer of Elk Rapids and Doug (Holly) Spencer of Elk Rapids; her grandchildren, Troy (Courtney) Brazie, Nicole (Derrick) Olson, Natasha (Volodymyr) Miakhtinova, Olena (Russell) Wallace, Blair (Michael) Misico, Cassen (Ryan Hairston) Grammer, Kaitlin Eberle, Jack, Luke and Owen Spencer; 7 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great grandchildren. Preceding Dean in death is her brother, Charles McCall. Visitation will be on Thursday July 9th from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at Wolfe-O’Neill Funeral Home, 106 S. Cherry Street, Kalkaska. Funeral services will be Friday July 10th, at 11:00 AM at the funeral home with burial to follow at Evergreen Cemetery in Kalkaska. Memorials can be made to Hospice of Michigan, 932 N. Mitchell St., Cadillac, MI 49601. Condolences can be left online for the family at wolfeoneill.com.

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Lillian "Dean" Spencer

September 17, 1931 - July 5, 2015