Charles W. Spencer

Charles Winthrop Spencer II, known by friends as Chuck and by his family as Bud, was born in Cambridge Massachusetts, to Henry and Marguerite Spencer, on December 25, 1930. He grew up during the depression and learned from those years to; change what you can change and except what cannot be changed but always keep a positive outlook on life. His family remained mostly in Massachusetts except during the war years when his father, then 42 years old, signed up for the navy and moved his family to Vero Beach Florida where he was stationed at the Naval Air Base. Chuck graduated from Colby College, Maine with a degree in Geology in 1953, then, attended the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, where he earned a master's degree in geology in 1955. He married his college sweetheart, Joyce Whitham, in 1954, after she had earned her bachelor's degree from Colby College. Together they started on a lifetime of adventure that would last almost 62 years. Chuck appreciated adventure and as a fresh new employee of the United States Geologic Survey working for the Mineral Resources Branch, he and his wife traveled up and down the east coast from Maine to Florida and most states in between. They lived in old CCC housing, tar paper shacks and whatever they could find until they eventually purchased a house trailer so they could take their home with them. They moved 20 different times in the first 5 years of their marriage. Chuck did what he loved, mapping rock formations while tramping up and down hills and through forests. He tactfully avoided moonshiners in the southern Appalachians, who did not care for his government marked vehicle and on at least one occasion found himself fighting off an angry wild sow pig who was protecting her piglets (she apparently did not care for government workers either). Chuck's ancestors had settled in New England back when it was really new, around 1630. The family stayed in New England for the next 300+ years until Chuck decided in 1959 it was time to take Horace Greeley's advice and head west. He moved, with his wife and family, now including a son, Charles (4) and daughter, Pamela (only months old) to Farmington, New Mexico, to start work with Texaco. They fit right into life in the west, chuckling at the misconceptions of their east coast friends. In the mid 1960's they were actually asked by an associate from the east if the Indians were friendly in Montana. Once again field work was central to his life. He sat wells and mapped rocks across the Rocky Mountain States. Chuck loved geology. He often said he had the perfect job because he got paid to do something he loved doing anyway. He mapped swaths of the Grand Canyon, camping for days or even weeks after hiking into the canyon or being dropped in by helicopter. His interest in tight gas sands which dominated his career, started early. He was asked in late 1968 to attend, as an observer for Texaco, the Gasbuggy downhole atomic bomb test of what was hoped to be the world's biggest frac job. They set off an explosive device in a tight gas reservoir in the four corners area. His short explanation of what happened was the explosion failed to fracture the rock in any meaningful way but they did create a really large underground glass container of melted quartz sandstone. The oil field took Chuck and his family in an interesting circle. Starting in New Mexico, they were now moving every 2 years. They soon found themselves in Denver Colorado, followed by Billings, Montana (one of their very favorite places) back to Farmington and on to Denver a second time. Chuck retired from Texaco in 1974 and returned to the USGS this time in the Oil and Gas branch, where he would happily spend the remainder of his career. His fascination with tight gas sands took him around the world now, providing technical support through the USGS and the World Bank for petroleum exploration and production in such far flung places as Brazil, Hungary and Russia. He enjoyed his world travels and cherished all the marvelous friends he made around the world. Chuck loved all things outdoors, from camping, fishing, hunting, skiing but his favorite leisure time was with his family and friends on his boat. Chuck chose to live in the high desert and mountains meaning he had to work hard at finding water for his various boats. He was always looking for larger bodies of water as he acquired bigger boats. Beginning in the late 1960's when he and Joyce purchased their first boat they spent every weekend of the summer, that they could, on the boat. Any long vacations with his family involved boats and camping. His kids learned to love the outdoors as they camped, climbed and skied around the west throughout their childhoods. There were small local reservoirs for weekend trips Horsetooth, Granby, Dillion. Longer vacations were to Lake Powell, Flaming Gorge or Lake Mead, after he retired he dragged the cabin cruiser to Florida and the Texas Gulf Coast. Among Chuck's defining characteristics was a passion for safety, His family kiddingly accused him of being a frustrated boy scout. His time spent doing field work in remote places gave him an obsession with planning for every contingence. He was known for squirrelling away on every trip all manner of tools and equipment to make sure he was ready for anything that could happen. The friends he met at various marines soon learned if you needed something to fix your boat Chuck would have it. He was ready with spare spark plugs, spare pumps, spare belts and things of every description to fix the motor on a boat or car. Once the family hit some debris on a remote part of Lake Powell and the prop fell off of the boat. For anyone else, that might have been a near impossible situation, far from civilization with no one around and miles to paddle but Chuck had brought along a spare prop ready for such an occasion. Chuck retired from the USGS in 1995, after a 40 year career in geology. He was an active member in the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists. He kept his hand in geology just a little but once retired he was ready to travel. He and Joyce took a variety of trips to Europe and China generally involving river cruises. They took a variety of ocean cruises. They drove to Alaska and through the maritime provinces of Canada. They took a cruise to Antarctica and a driving trip through Mexico that involved loading their truck and camper on a train to travel through Copper Canyon. Chuck enjoyed life and adventure. In the last few years he had slowed down but he never lost his enthusiasm for life. He used to tell his family, ""I might not be able to do so much but I am grateful to be here still kicking"". This last adventure he has gone on ahead of us. We will miss his humor, his love of life and his expertise. Until we meet again, we know he is sitting on the bridge of his boat, hopefully reading over the big book of how the geology of the world was really put together, and he is watching over us.