Guestbook for Spencer Lavan
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July 20, 2018 | Theodore Koontz - Portland, OR -- United States

It is perhaps too late to make a contribution to this site. I met "Spence" in 1960 when I attended HDS on a Rockefeller Fellowship. I was 22 years old, married with two children, raised and educated in the mid-west. I was a Unitarian by default.

Spence was one of the first students and Unitarian students that I met at HDS. He was bright, friendly and in a sense showed me the ropes. He was particularly gracious to my wife Virginia and our kids. We attended parties at his apartment in Back Bay.

We did not keep up after I left HDS. after one year, to go to graduate school in political science and history of political and social thought but from time to time would see references to him in journals that I read.

What is important for me was to know and remember a good man and for one year a good friend.

October 14, 2016 | Errol McGuire - Brunswick, Maine -- USA

Dear Susan, I read of Spencer's death last week. He was such a good, kind, and thoughtful man. When I returned to Maine in '79 from my last academic post, he was so helpful and conscientious in assisting me to remain active in our field of religious studies. (We both taught together in a public NEH course for the history of religion.) Later, he was generous in his support in helping my son, John, gain admittance at Tufts. My only regret is that I wish I gotten to know him better. I know that both in Maine and Chicago, he contributed so much to important institutions and to a great many people's lives. My deepest condolences to you.