Junior Roscoe Spaulding, 94, also known as J. R., entered into his heavenly rest on Saturday, December 1, 2018 at Springs Valley Meadows in French Lick, IN. He was born on November 18, 1924 in Nodaway County, Missouri, one of eleven children of the late Roy Spaulding and Josephine Winslow Spaulding. He grew up on the family farm outside Little York, Indiana and graduated from Little York High School in 1942. As a youth, J. R. spent several summers working the wheat harvest from west Texas to North Dakota. Upon graduation he joined the Navy. He served proudly and honorably during WW II in the US Navy aboard the USS Quincy. Those sails took him to Trinidad and Tobago, Northern Ireland, many Asian and European ports, and through the Suez Canal multiple times. The USS Quincy was part of the Utah beach shelling at Normandy on D-Day. Later in the war, the Quincy transported President Franklin Roosevelt to Malta where he flew on to the Yalta Conference. Both before and after the conference, the ship hosted pivotal world leaders for meetings with the US President, which meant that J. R. got close-up glimpses of British prime minister Winston Churchill, Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie, King Abdel Aziz Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia and King Farouk of Egypt, among others. He and another ship’s electrician were asked to wire President Roosevelt’s berth with a reading lamp, so you can imagine the pride of those young men as they talked with the US President. The Quincy sailed into Tokyo Bay, September 1st, 1945 and was anchored near the USS Missouri, the site of the Japanese surrender ceremony the next day, September 2, 1945. Upon returning home, he attended Purdue University, studying electrical engineering. He was a lifelong Boilermaker. On December 3, 1950, J.R. married Virginia M. Russell. The couple settled in West Baden Springs, Indiana and raised three children there. J. R. and Jenny had been married for 66 years when she left this life on February 10, 2017. J.R.’s working years were spent mostly as an electrician. He was employed by TVA, Kelley Electric in New Albany, IN, the Springs Valley School Corporation and Pluto Corporation both located in French Lick, IN. In his spare time, he kept bees and baked bread. He was an avid organic gardener and was known far and wide by the vegetables and raspberries he shared with family and friends. He was an early Boy Scout leader for the Springs Valley area. After retirement from the Pluto Corporation, J.R. and Virginia enjoyed travel and camping trips throughout the US and Canada. They especially liked meeting new people along the way and finding fresh, local produce such as cherries and apples in Washington State. Once, they unknowingly tried to take cherries into Canada but were prevented by a border agent. Rather than waste a single cherry, they pulled off the road and made a meal of the fruit before going ahead into Canada. Until failing health stopped them, J. R. and Virginia enjoyed many years volunteering at the West Baden Springs Hotel, where they started out working on the garden’s renovation, then later guided tours. J. R. brought the history of the building alive through his tour talks and Virginia served as his docent. J. R. would want to be sure that all his caregivers and medical staff at Lake Pointe Village in Scottsburg, IN and Springs Valley Meadows, French Lick, IN, receive his final thanks and appreciation. They all were kind and dedicated to him to the end.
J. R. was a member the Cedar Ridge Church in Paoli, IN and began and ended each day with prayer and study of the Bible. His deep faith guided his life and his was a life of service to God. In addition to his loving wife and parents, he was preceded in death by three brothers, Everett, Roger and Charles Spaulding and five sisters, Kathleen Williams, Ramalea McCoskey, Lorene Hamilton, Geneva Moody and Anita Haven.
J. R. is survived by his son, Roger Spaulding of Colorado Springs, Colorado; two daughters, Valerie Mills and her husband Mark of West Baden Springs,IN and Susan Whitsett and her husband Mike of Asbury, Iowa; a beloved granddaughter, Paige Mills of French Lick, IN; two sisters, Gladys Horn of Salem, IN and Colleen Baldwin of Scottsburg, IN and numerous nieces and nephews. Online condolences:www.collinsfuneralhome.net.