Ann Marie "Johnnie" Spaur

September 24, 1932 - September 19, 2023

Obituary

A loving wife of 66 years, mother of three, and nurse of 50 years, Ann Marie “Johnnie” Spaur passed away at home on September 19, 2023 with her three children at her side.

Early Years

The woman whom many know as Johnnie Spaur was born Ann Marie Mercer on September 24, 1932, in Gordon, Nebraska. On that first day of life, she already had a tooth. She was the second child born to John Wesley Mercer and Helen Nugent Mercer, joining her older brother Robert.

John Wesley Mercer was a math teacher, superintendent of the local schools, and one-time president of the Nebraska state association of school superintendents. The family lived “in town,” as they said, as opposed to in the surrounding farmland. Ann’s younger sister Alyce would join the family two years later.

Ann grew up something of a tomboy. She described herself as “the best center the neighborhood football team ever had.” She also claimed to have fought at least some fights on behalf of her older brother.

As her older brother Robert approached high school, it became clear to John Mercer that the local schools would not be rigorous enough for his very bright son. During Christmas vacation of Ann’s 7th grade year, her father rode along with an Army colonel from Gordon to Southern California. Two weeks later, he returned with a contract in his pocket to teach mathematics in Downey, California starting the following year. Happily, the contract included no district administration duties.

Middle school in Downey was a major change for Ann. World War II dominated domestic life and news headlines. The school had bigger classes than she had known, filled with bigger kids. At first she didn’t make friends easily. She spent time alone in her own world. She didn’t think she was pretty, so didn’t consider herself a dating prospect. At the same time, she didn’t particular miss or stay in contact with the classmates she had known in Gordon.

High school in Downey expanded Ann’s horizons. She learned typing and dictation, eventually typing a book manuscript from dictation. Her father taught at the school. Ann had just one class from her father. One day he called her to the chalkboard to work out a problem that proved difficult for most of the class. Ann correctly solved it. When her father asked how she figured it out, she replied that her Mom (also a math teacher) had helped her. Ann also started to enjoy dancing in high school. She graduated from Downey High in 1950. The school still exists, and she maintained contact with some classmates throughout her life.

College and Engagement

Ann decided to stay close to home and attend Fullerton Junior College. Fullerton was nearby, but far enough to warrant moving out on her own. She rented a room plus kitchen privileges from little old Mrs. Merritt. Merritt’s house was close enough to campus that Ann could walk to school.

In her first weeks at Fullerton, Ann went to a school dance. That fall, the singer and composer Johnny Mercer had a comeback hit on the radio. As she entered the dance, someone called out to her as “Hey, Johnny!” as a play on her last name. While she didn’t encourage nor discourage the nickname, it stuck.

Compared to high school, junior college was better and busier for Johnnie Mercer. She attended classes during the day and worked nights to pay for tuition, room, and board. Her jobs included waitressing, chief cashier for the Fox Theater Corporation, and a typist for Southern California Edison. Her classmates elected her vice president of their class. In her second year at Fullerton, the class president, a football star, had to leave school after his father passed away, making Johnnie Mercer class president.

Early on in attending Fullerton, Johnnie Mercer noticed a shy science student on campus named Ken Spaur. He needed a while to notice her, and eventually they started dating.

While Johnnie Mercer and Ken Spaur attended Fullerton Junior College, the U.S. slid further and further into conflict on the Korean peninsula. Graduation in the spring of 1952 would force decisions for them and many of their classmates. After graduation, Ken took a job as a fire ranger and spotter at Chews Ridge in the Los Padres National Forest north of Los Angeles. It was there on the ridge that Ken and Johnnie got engaged. Johnnie always claimed that Ken never actually asked her to marry him.

After completing junior college, Ken knew the odds were high that he would be drafted for military service, and so volunteered for the Air Force after the summer fire season ended. With his education, he would qualify for Officer Candidate School at the Air Force Academy and at least make the best of a difficult time.

This started what became a very long engagement for Johnnie and Ken, something that she had never wanted.

Marriage and Nursing

As little four-year-old Ann Marie, Johnnie had played nurse to her grandfather. So in the fall of 1952, after completing junior college, she enrolled in the Huntington Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, affiliated with the University of Southern California. She continued to study and work while her fiancé moved through the Air Force training regime in air bases very distant from Southern California.

Towards the end of 1954, Ken Spaur graduated from Air Force training in Texas. He bought a car and drove back to Southern California. On the day after Christmas, 1954, Johnnie Mercer wed Kenneth Lee Spaur in Downey, California. From that day on, most people would know her as Johnnie Spaur. Robert and Helen Nugent gave their daughter one semester’s tuition as a wedding present. The couple honeymooned at a small cabin near Big Bear, California.

Johnnie Spaur completed her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree in the spring of 1955. On the day of graduation, she was preoccupied with irritation from not having heard from her new husband in several days. Her preoccupation initially kept her from realizing that she had received the Doctors Award as the best nurse of the class. After the ceremony, she had to bum change off of friends to call Ken and tell him the news. Johnnie kept in touch with several nursing students and colleagues throughout her life.

Military Wife and Mother

After graduation, Johnnie joined Ken in Smyrna, Tennessee, near Nashville, where Ken was stationed. Johnnie gave birth to Lisa Jonnine Spaur on July 17, 1956. Being a good military wife, she wrote her mother and mother-in-law each week with news of the baby. Every month, she included pictures.

Shortly after Lisa’s birth, Ken was transferred to serve in Japan. Johnnie and her daughter returned to Whittier for six months to work and await the necessary extra papers to take a child to Japan and ship a car there as well.

Johnnie arrived in Okinawa, Japan in 1957 and stayed for a year and a half. While in transit, the family got to fly first class for the final leg from Japan to Okinawa. That was the only time in many travels that she flew first class.

In 1960, Johnnie and family moved to Klamath Falls, Oregon. After suffering a miscarriage, Johnnie gave birth to two sons while in Klamath Falls: Mark Lee, born on July 16, 1961, and Matthew Allen, born May 11, 1963.

While she was in the hospital after delivering Matthew, Johnnie learned that the family was being transferred to Portland. Transfers would continue to be a way of military life for Johnnie and family. After Portland came Tacoma, Honolulu, San Diego, and finally Pineville, Louisiana. Ken retired from the Air Force from Pineville at the end of 1972, and the family returned to Tacoma.

Throughout the years of raising a military family, Johnnie continued her nursing career as best she could. While in Louisiana she returned to paid work as a nurse for $3.78 an hour at a Catholic hospital in town.

In early 1973 she joined the staff of Allenmore Hospital in Tacoma. She remained at the hospital for eight years, until Matthew graduated from high school. She worked full time on the swing shift in various roles including staff nurse, nursing supervisor, and hospital review team member. What little free time a family and job left her, she played tennis and golf with friends.

After Matthew graduated from high school in 1981, Johnnie and Ken settled in Mill City, Oregon, reuniting with their Klamath Falls neighbors Fred and Bonnie Krecklow. She worked at Salem General Hospital, primarily in the emergency room.

Retirement

Johnnie retired after practicing nursing for 50 years. She liked every job she had, and liked working swing shift. She would tell you that she never had to write a resume to get a nursing job, that it wasn’t unusual for her to get into at least a little trouble on the job for all the right reasons, and that she would have been crushed if she were ever fired from a job.

After retiring, Johnnie and Ken began a career of travel. They had seen Asia as a young married couple, so they focused their travels on Europe. They also traveled more through the U.S. so Ken could attend woodworking classes or military officer reunions. Johnnie did not like the damp, grey Oregon winters, so the couple became snowbirds. They tried wintering in Florida and along the Texas coast before settling into an annual routine of three or more months per year in Yuma. Arizona.

Johnnie said that she was proud of her marriage and her kids. Surely a 50-year career in nursing is a proud achievement as well. She never kept a “bucket list” of activities and achievements to accomplish in her life. One thing that she wished she could do differently was to be in better health.

After Ken passed away in January 2021, Johnnie came to live with Mark and his wife Diane. She passed away at home on September 19, 2023 with her three children at her side.