Deaths

• Edna Irene Nelson Crowder (’28)
• William R. Day (’39)
• William J. Birkett (’50)
• William Scott Hendricks (’89)
• Robert W. "Bob" Spencer
• Professor Emeritus Bill McReynolds

Bob Spencer

Obituary: Robert W. "Bob" Spencer

Robert W. “Bob” Spencer (’31), publisher emeritus of The Fort Morgan Times, died May 4. He was 94.

Spencer was born April 21, 1908, in Fort Morgan to Carrie and R.B. Spencer and lived his entire life there.

Spencer graduated in 1931 from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he played football all four years as a 155-pound end and the team punter. He was named to the all-conference second team as a junior.

Spencer had interned at The Pueblo Chieftain, but it was not hiring when he graduated, so he returned to Fort Morgan and The Times in the depths of the Depression.

Spencer was credited with saving The Times during those hard economic years by taking on the jobs of others who left the paper so that replacements did not have to be hired — and paid. Spencer did most of the reporting and the advertising work, and he helped make up the paper each day and run the press. When the bookkeeper left, he added that job to his duties, and for many years he and his wife, Fern, would drive around town every night to deliver papers to homes missed by paper carriers.

He eventually became the editor as well as the advertising manager, and he remained the advertising manager until about 1950 when a new manager was hired. He continued as editor of the paper, and he added the title of publisher when his father, R.B. Spencer, died in 1965. The elder Spencer had been the publisher since he purchased the paper in 1907.

Bob Spencer, a former member of the School’s Advisory Board, turned over the editor’s duties to his son, Bill Spencer, in 1966 and retained the title of publisher. When The Times was sold to American Publishing Co. in 1988, he and his wife, Fern, were named consultants, and when American Publishing sold the paper to The Denver Post in 1996, he was named publisher emeritus.

Bill McReynolds

Obituary: Professor Emeritus Bill McReynolds

By Erica Williams

Former students and friends of retired Associate Professor William I. “Bill” McReynolds remember a kind man, a Santa Claus figure who believed that Christmas should be celebrated every day of the year. McReynolds, who taught at the School from 1968 to 1992, died of a heart attack Sept. 2 at his home in Mashpee, Mass. He was 72.

Even before McReynolds grew his trademark curly, white beard, friends and former students remember both his wisdom and generosity.

“He was my teacher, my mentor, my champion and, most importantly, my friend. I will miss him mightily,” said Donna Farrell (’88) at McReynolds’ memorial service in Boulder on Sept. 26.

Colleagues and students remember that his teaching didn’t stop outside the classroom. Former journalism professor Ardyth Sohn recalled McReynolds dragging her away from grading papers to “play hooky.” McReynolds took her to see movies or go on long walks, pointing out the flora along the way.

“He was such a good teacher because he loved learning himself,” Sohn said.

Farrell also remembered his kindness. She said that he noticed her struggling to balance being a single mother and a master’s student. McReynolds arranged for her to receive the Denver Press Club Scholarship in 1987, she said, but he was reluctant to take any credit.

“I doubt that I would have finished my degree when I did, and maybe not at all, without that scholarship,” Farrell said.

“Bill McReynolds was one of the gentlest human beings I’ve ever known.”

Farrell said McReynolds continued to be a mentor even after he and his wife, Janet, moved to Cape Cod in 1998. When Farrell’s son was diagnosed with leukemia, she said, the couple helped her through her son’s illness. After her son’s death, McReynolds and his wife invited Farrell to their home. “Their e-mails, phone calls and prayers were often a lifeline for me,” she said.

Not only did McReynolds touch the lives of those in the School, people said strangers would open up to him and share their troubles.

McReynolds started growing his notable beard while rehearsing for a church production of “Les Miserables,” but his most famous role was as Santa Claus. He performed at private parties and was the Pearl Street Mall’s official Santa. But friends and family agreed that he didn’t shed the spirit of old St. Nick when he took his red costume off.

Janet McReynolds told of how her husband picked up hitchhikers along the road, occasionally giving them money or food.

“To Bill, it didn’t make a difference. Whether someone was poor and ignorant was as valuable, and maybe more interesting, than those well-educated and well-off,” she said.

She said the death of JonBenet Ramsey six years ago broke his heart. The McReynoldses were friends of the Ramsey family, and he had played Santa for them for several years.

Bill McReynolds earned a bachelor of journalism degree in 1953 and a master of journalism degree in 1962, both from the University of Texas at Austin. He received his Ph.D. in American studies in 1972 from the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis. He served in the U.S. Army from 1953 to 1956. He was managing editor of the Daily Texan at the University of Texas in 1953 and returned to serve as editorial supervisor of the newspaper from 1960 to 1965.

Before that, he was a general assignment reporter, entertainment editor and women's section editor for the Globe-Times and Daily News in Amarillo, Texas, from 1956 to 1959. At the University of Minnesota, he was an instructor from 1960 to 1964 and an assistant professor in 1964-65.

After coming to CU, McReynolds was promoted to associate professor in 1974. Among the courses he taught were History of Journalism, Critical Writing for the Journalist, Opinion Writing and Mass Communication and Culture.

He worked as a part-time copy editor on the sports desk at The Denver Post in 1970-71 and as the amusements columnist for Town and Country Review in Boulder in 1972-73. He was a visiting professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1984. He was the author of numerous papers, articles and book reviews, including “How to `Fake It’ as a Reviewer” (1974), “The Way of the Tactless Texan” (1983) and “Theater Coverage: An Interpretation” (1982).

McReynolds was a member and past chair of the Silver & Gold Record Editorial Board, University Faculty Council and America Studies Committee at CU-Boulder, and was graduate director of the master's in journalism program. He was a member of the executive committee of the Colorado High School Press Association (1974-81). He also had been a member of the Board of Directors of Nomad Players, Boulder's community theater. He was a member of the Association for Education in Journalism and the Rocky Mountain American Studies Association. He also served as assistant editor of American Journalism, the journal of the American Journalism Historians Association, for many years.

When he retired from CU in 1992, he and his wife moved to Rollinsville. They moved to Mashpee in 1998, where he worked as an assistant to the outreach coordinator at the Mashpee Senior Center. He also was active in the Mashpee Singing Seniors and the Mashpee Men's Club.

A committee is being formed to establish a scholarship in McReynolds’ honor. Contact Jonathan Wanderstock at wanderstock@cufund.colorado.edu.