Ethlyn Fay Spencer

Ethlyn Fay Spencer, 94, passed away on Monday, May 11, 2026, at her home in the Mesa Valley Estates in Mesquite, Nevada. She was born March 5, 1932, in Helena, Montana to Elton H. Dye and Abbie E. Smithey.

She spent her youth in Corvallis, Montana. After graduating from high school, she attended Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington and received a bachelor’s degree in business education. She met her husband in Hamilton, Montana, after he was discharged from the Navy and were married in December 1953. In 1954 her daughter, Valerie, was born.

They moved to Mesa, Arizona where her husband had been hired as the circulation manager for the Mesa Tribune newspaper. In 1965, Ethlyn moved to Blythe, California with her husband and family, when he was hired by the owner of several weekly newspapers as the Publisher of the Palo Verde Valley Times. In 1977 she and her husband moved to Poway, California when he became the Publisher of the Poway News Chieftain and Rancho Bernardo Journal. They remained there until after he retired and moved in 2007 to the Del Web in Mesquite, Nevada. In 2019 she became the first resident of the Mesa Valley Estates. She was always very proud that she was the original founder of the senior living community.

While in Blythe, she attended Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, California receiving a master’s degree in education. She taught part-time at Palo Verde High School in Blythe, and adult programs and community college in the Poway area.

She is survived by her daughter, Valerie Todd, son-in-law Larry Todd, and her grandson Steven Todd and granddaughter Lori Todd, all of Mesquite. She was preceded in death by her husband Wallace Duane Spencer.

Funeral services were provided by Star Mortuary, Mesquite, Nevada. Inurnment will be at Corvallis Cemetery, Corvallis, Montana.