Virginia Rose Arbuckle Spencer

Virginia Rose Arbuckle Spencer - librarian, educator, counselor, and activist - died on June 4, at the age of 87.Born in 1928 in Quincy, Mass., to lawyers George and Mary Arbuckle, she was educated at Thayer Academy (Braintree, Mass.) and Mount Saint Mary College (Hooksett, N.H.).During the 1950s, she worked as a librarian at Colby Junior College (New London, N.H.), Boston University Business School, and Lesley College (Cambridge, Mass.). She was also a Girls Worker at Denison House, a social-services agency in Boston. In 1960, she earned a master's degree in elementary education at Lesley.The following year, she married Conrad C. Born of Milton, Mass., after which she lived in Rhodes, Greece, for two years while he served in the U. S. Coast Guard. There, she gave birth to her first son, Christian. They returned stateside in 1964, living in Exeter (N.H.), where she bore her second son, George. During the 1970s, she studied counseling at the University of New Hampshire.Upon moving to York in 1975, she became active in local politics, serving on the town's Recreation Commission, Finance Committee, Comprehensive Plan Committee, and Charter Commission. She was also an enthusiastic camper and boater. In 1983, her first marriage ended in divorce.Relocating to Sanford in 1990, she served as a delegate to the Maine Democratic Convention and as a member of the Town Meeting and of the Sanford Casinos No Steering Committee. She married musician Joseph Raymond Spencer in 1996, enjoying five years together until his death. In 2014, she penned a memoir, Girl on the Beach (privately printed), in which she reflected upon her life from girlhood to her eighties.She is survived by her brother, Gilbert B. Arbuckle, of Quincy; by her sister, Kathleen Logan-Prince of Weston (Mass.); by her sons Christian A. Born of South Berwick and George W. Born of Somerville (Mass.); and by her nephew Joshua Logan of Newton (Mass).A memorial service will be held on Monday, June 13th at 11:00 am at the Lafrance-Lambert & Black Funeral Home, 29 Winter St., Sanford.Arrangements are under the direction of Black Funeral Homes and Cremation Service, Sanford-Springvale.To leave a message of condolence for the family please click on the condolences tab to the left.