Ruth LaVerna Spence

Ruth LaVerna (Prest) Spence, 98, of Mahomet passed away at 9:10 p.m on Dec. 11, 2018, at home.

Memorial services will be held in spring 2019.  

Ruth was born Aug. 29, 1920, in Canon City, Colo. Her family shortly returned to Randolph County, Ill., where she grew up. She attended Southern Illinois University. She married Voyle E. Spence on Feb. 27, 1942. Voyle passed away Nov. 18, 2009.

Surviving are two sons, Timothy Spence of Mahomet and David (Toni Crook) Spence of Fisher and grandson, Sean (Cherie) Crook; and a daughter, Judith (Peter) Wilkin of Virginia and grandsons, Samuel Wilkin and Daniel (Sarah Doty) Wilkin and great-grandchildren, Raley and Oliver Wilkin. Also surviving are her sister-in-law, Marcella Prest; and many nieces and nephews.

During World War II she taught school while her husband Voyle spent two years as a prisoner of war in Germany. After the war, Voyle and his brothers, Ellis and Jewell Spence, built homes and apartment buildings in the Champaign area. Ruth and her sisters-in-law, Marguerite and Kathryn, were active in the family business.

She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, Champaign, and the Illiana Chapter of the American Ex-Prisoners of War. Ruth and her husband attended many Ex-Prisoners of War reunions held in the United States. With a small Ex-POW group, they twice visited Sagan, Poland, the site of Voyle's prison camp Stalag Luft III.

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