Andrew Bailey Spencer: In service, abides

Andrew Bailey Spencer: In service, abides 
In life, Andrew Spencer had a constant desire to help people. His family hopes a memorial fund in his name will continue his commitment to others by helping to prevent deaths from substance abuse. Roanoke.com
Tonia Moxley
February 1, 2014

Photo courtesy of the Spencer family

His father says he was diagnosed late last year with “significant post-traumatic stress disorder.” Andrew died Jan. 19 after inhaling compressed gas used to clean electronic equipment.

Andrew Spencer served with the Army Corps of Engineers from 1992-2004.

BLACKSBURG — Andrew Bailey Spencer’s motto was simple. Whether he was helping the elderly find their groceries at his new job at Kroger, serving his country in Bosnia or power washing the walkways at Blacksburg Presbyterian Church’s columbarium, it was always “Andrew, at your service! How may I help you?” And although his ashes will now rest beside those of his late mother, Norrine Bailey Spencer, in the columbarium he tended, Andrew will still be at the service of his community.

Spencer’s family and his church have set up a memorial fund in his name to help prevent deaths from substance abuse, which took his life unexpectedly on the morning of Jan. 19. He was 41. “We wanted something that could serve a useful purpose and do some good,” his father, Ed Spencer, said of the fund. “Maybe save a life.”

Born in Delaware, Andrew Bailey Spencer was adopted and came to Blacksburg while still a young boy. As he grew, Ed Spencer said, his son became a gifted athlete, able to play nearly every sport he tried. He also showed a constant desire to help others and to take physical risks that often landed him in the emergency room. Andrew Spencer excelled in structured environments from an early age, his father said, working his way up to Eagle Scout and becoming a member of the Order of the Arrow, another scouting program. The young man tried college, but found his calling in the military. read more here