Jenny Lee Spears

Jenny Lee Spears, aged 71, of Fairview, NC, passed away September 2, 2023.

Jenny was born on June 29, 1952 in Coral Gables, FL, to the late Harriette Krauth and Melvin Spears. She was a registered nurse and had a  Critical Care Certification. Although Jenny worked as a registered nurse for over 40 years, much of it in the ICU, her favorite job was hospice. She loved helping people transition through this life. She believed that every person deserved a peaceful, pain-free death, and that no one should be alone. That is what she wished for herself as well, and that is what her death was.

Jenny was a member of the SDA Church, although if you asked for the details, she would just say that she loved Jesus. She mastered everything she tried. Jenny played the 6-string and 12-string guitar and banjo. She was a scuba diver, a water skier,  and an experienced cyclist, completing multiple ‘’centuries,’’ (rides that were 100 miles).  She was a horsewoman, and owned many horses, she learned the art of stained glass, even owning her own stained glass studio.

In addition to her parents, Jenny was preceded in death her step-brother, Michael Angelo II.

Those left to cherish her memory are her loving spouse of 13 years, June Watkins; her daughter, Gracie Leonor-Spears whom she was very proud of and is currently studying to be a Physician Assistant, at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska. Jenny considered June’s family as her own: mom, Marlene Watkins of Canton, OH; siblings, Tim (Sherry) Watkins of Chandler, AZ, Matt (Mary) Watkins of Massillon, OH, and Malia (Tom) Burgasser of Massillon, Ohio; many nieces and nephews; and many dear friends.

A Memorial Service will be held September 23, 2023, at 3 PM, at Foster Seventh Day Adventist Church, 375 Hendersonville Road, Asheville, NC 28803. The service will be officiated by Patrick Williams and Erin Miller, with music by Tag Garmon.

In lieu of flowers, please give to Foster SDA Church’s Community Services fund.

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength. She hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other. Then someone says:

‘’There, she is gone!’’

‘’Gone where?’’

Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and she is just as able to bear the load of living freight to her destined port.

Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my side says: ‘’There, she is gone!’’ There are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices ready to take up the glad shout: ‘’Here she comes!’’

And that is dying…

-Henry Van Dyke

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