At 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 14, Ronald Spencer will discuss his recently published book, “Half Penny: You Can Make It If That’s All You’ve Got,” at Patrick County Historical Museum in Stuart. Although he lives in Richmond now, Spencer was born and raised in Patrick County and has many relatives yet living here.
Spencer, a well-known authority on health care, is a registered nurse who has worked in Veterans’ hospitals and has taught nursing classes himself. Impressively, Ron has served on statewide health advisory boards under four different Virginia governors.
Spencer’s book is part memoir and part family history but mostly an authentic “down to earth” tale of his life growing up in mostly segregated, 1960s-era Patrick County. Despite the tragedies of losing his
father, who died relatively young from black lung disease, and then the death of his stepfather to whom he had grown close also, Spencer survived and prospered.
He attributes his success in life very much to his faith but to his family and to some supportive teachers/mentors as well. He candidly admits to having experienced problems with alcohol addiction and, to a lesser extent, other drug use while dealing with attention deficit disorder (ADD) also. The added impediments to his success were prejudice, racism, and the poverty experienced as he was growing up in a single parent family with seven siblings.
Anyone who lived in rural Patrick County in the latter half of the 20th century will relate to many of the things he talks about in his book. Many will recall the names of people he encountered too, such as long serving and dedicated physician, Edwin T. McNamee. “Dr. Mac,” as he was called, helped establish the local hospital (now defunct, sadly) and was perhaps the last local physician to make “house calls.” An early Black school administrator, Fred Brim, is mentioned also, though definitely not as one of
Spencer’s “mentors,” to say the least.
Like many before him, young Ronald “escaped” some of the impediments he had encountered locally when he enlisted in the US Navy as he was just completing high school. The discipline of the military life proved helpful in later life, but he had plans for something other than being a career soldier.
In short, Spencer has led a very interesting life and will share some of his personal stories with hopes of encouraging other folks to record their own family histories as well. Light refreshments will follow the talk and copies of his book should be available for sale. For more information, call the museum at (276)694-2840
