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Subject: [CAKERN] Obit: LEES, Spencer Hatfield
Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 01:53:46 -0000

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Business leader Spencer Lees always supported community
By: Bill Mead

Spencer Hatfield Lees, one of Tehachapi's most significant business and civic leaders of the past half century, passed away at a Bakersfield care facility on Monday, Dec. 4. He was 88.

Spence, as he was known to most locals during his many years of community service, came to Tehachapi with his wife Lillian in 1958 to open Spencer California, a garment factory that shipped products to leading stores throughout the country. The Lees', who functioned as a team in business as well as in their family life, gained special fame for a simple little sunsuit they designed which became a basic summer outfit for tens of thousands of small girls nationwide during the 1960s.

Spencer California filled a much-needed employment niche in Tehachapi when the population was small and jobs were scarce, particularly for women. Many former Spencer California employees still reside in Tehachapi and remember the hands-on participation of Spence and Lillian in conducting a successful enterprise in a highly competitive industry.

Prior to establishing their Tehachapi operation, Spence and Lillian had operated a successful factory in Cannon Falls, Minnesota near Spence's birthplace of Red Wing, Minn. That was shortly after Spence was released from World War II service as an Army lieutenant in the South Pacific. In 1953 the family moved to California where Spence helped his friend and former pastor produce biblical motion pictures
Largely to give their three small daughters a better living environment, the Lees' left Los Angeles for Tehachapi which had impressed them as an ideal family community during earlier visits.

In the years following, Spence was an energetic booster for Tehachapi, serving as an active member and president of the organization which became the Greater Tehachapi Chamber of Commerce as well as chairman of the Tehachapi Mountain Festival Committee and its annual parade. From the beginning he was a staunch supporter of the Tehachapi-Cummings County Water District and its program to stabilize water supplies and provide flood protection in the Tehachapi area.

An avid horseman, Spence helped establish the yearly Prayer in the Pines ride which involved dozens of local riders attending religious services near Tehachapi Mountain Park. Dick Johnson, former publisher of the Tehachapi News, recalls that Spence and Lillian for a time gave free ponies to the winners of the local Fourth of July Kiddie Parade. The Lees family horses were, for a time, pastured at the 5L Ranch on Valley Boulevard which until a few years ago was familiar to most Tehachapi residents because of its cartoon-like pump house.

Throughout his active business career, Spence was an advocate of strengthening the economy of the Tehachapi area, many of his contemporaries recall. After retirement he served as foreman of the Kern County Grand Jury and a member of the Kern County Board of Trade. After turning 80, he returned to serve another term as a member of the board of directors of the Greater Tehachapi Chamber of Commerce.

Among their many other contributions, Spence and Lillian donated land for construction of the St. Jude's-in-the-Mountains Episcopal Church on South Curry Street.

Spence was preceded in death by his beloved wife Lillian. He is survived by his three daughters and their husbands: Patricia Lees and Ron Tanous, Cynthia and Gerald King and MJ and Kerry May; grandchildren Camerin and Garet Kreizenbeck, Michael and Tyler May; his great grandchildren Will and Phoebe Kreizenbeck. He is also survived by loving nieces and nephews.

A funeral service was held at St. Jude's in the Mountain Episcopal Church of Tehachapi on Dec. 9. In lieu of flowers , donations may be made to St. Jude's in the Mountain. Arrangements were handled by Woods Family Funeral Service.

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