Spencer passed away on the Tiwi Islands at 0930 Sunday August 27, 2023, Darwin Australia time. Spencer was Crew Chief of the Osprey MV-22 that crash landed during exercise Predator’s Run, a series of war games being held in northern Australia between the militaries of the United States, Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Timor-Leste. The crew was heralded to have landed the plane in such a way resulting in twenty survivors. A natural leader, Spencer recently qualified as an instructor and was mentoring other Osprey crew chiefs. Spencer’s military awards include the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.

Spencer grew up in Arlington, Virginia, where he attended pre-K at Drew Model’s Montessori program. From there, Spencer attended Taylor ES where he achieved first place in the National Science League competition in 2012 and was an actor in the school’s Music Man performance. Spencer enjoyed Cub and Boy Scouts and always found entrepreneurial ways to enhance their camping experiences. Spencer was an all-around sports player from baseball, travel and rec soccer, flag football, taekwondo, wrestling, basketball, and lacrosse.

During middle school he attended Swanson where he took Latin and participated in Certamen. Spencer started high school with the inaugural class of Arlington Tech in 2016 – that year he received the Academic Merit Award and took his first aviation class.