Spencer Hall

The most recently completed building on campus, which houses some 49,00 square feet of scienceclassrooms, is Spencer Hall, named for Birmingham businessman and philanthropist William M. Spencer III. The college website states:

Mr. Spencer is a member of the Alabama Academy of Honor, and served as chairman of the board of trustees of the Birmingham Museum of Art where he led an extensive renovation and expansion of both the physical museum and its collection, transforming it into what is now considered one of the finest regional art museums in the country. He has been a member of the board of trustees of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and has volunteered to serve the United Way, the Birmingham Symphony, the United Way, and the Boy Scouts.

He was also a good and faithful friend to my father even when my father's dementia progressed to the point he scored 0 of 30 on a scale of cognition. Following Daddy's death, Bill Spencer wrote my family a beautiful letter praising my father's devotion to his friends, his warmth and charm, his good cheer, and his kindness. Given the difficult circumstances of the last few years of my father's life, Mr. Spencer's letter restored some dignity that had been taken from my father.

For that and for his wife's (Miss Evalina's) Bunny Hole (the nursery school I attended) and for his daughter's long marriage to one of my brother's best friends (now neighbors as well), I will be forever grateful.

Who'd a thunk a building I see nearly every day could hold such powerful memories?