Burial Date
Obituaries » WALTER W. SPOONER
SPOONER, WALTER W., 84, passed away peacefully on August 26, in the hospice unit at Brighton Ridge Skilled Nursing Facility in Eureka Springs, Ark. He had been severely injured in an accident on April 5, and after a valiant fight, has gone to be with his Lord. Walter was born on Dec. 31, 1929, in Greensboro, the second son of Nellie (Jones) and Arthur Spooner, and was brought up in Moretown and Marshfield, the son of a farmer. He was a graduate of VT Agricultural School in 1946, and then joined the Navy, serving two years; some of that time he was working in a print shop in Hawaii. Walter attended a Bible school in Indiana in the 1970s. On March 26, 1948, he married Rachel Dwinell. They had two daughters, Lisa and Susan, both deceased. Their marriage had lasted 51 years, when she died of sacridosis. During their marriage, they lived at farms in East Montpelier, Weston and other Vermont towns, and had owned the Howard Carlson farm in Marshfield. Among other enterprises they owned and ran a restaurant in Plainfield village, operated a snack bar (formerly MaryBobs), and had a successful ice cream business, known as SCOOPS Ice Cream. His mother made the ice cream, and he distributed it to private homes and farms. Later they moved to Alaska, where he built many houses, including a geodesic dome house, a geodesic dome church building and a four-apartment building. He built and sold beautiful furniture and will be remembered by the senior center in Soldotna for his fine carpentry there. He and Rachel owned land in Mexico for a time and spent winters there, but mainly they lived in Soldotna and Kenai, Alaska. After Rachel died, he bought property in Beaver, Ark., where he erected a building to house his home on wheels, which he parked inside the building. On that property he built the first floor of a home for his very dear friends, Lou and Nova Carman. Right up until his accident, he was busy building, and the last project was constructing the garage on the big house. He is survived by a sister, Alberta Goodine, and husband, Donald, of Huntington, Ind.; and a brother, Mervin, and wife, Beverly, of Marshfield; nieces and nephews; also the Carmans and their three daughters, who knew him as their Alaska Grandpa. He will be greatly missed by his church family in the Nikiski Church of Christ in Alaska and the Eastside Church of Christ in Eureka Springs, Ark. He is predeceased by his wife, Rachel; two daughters; two brothers, Oliver and Ramon; and his parents.
