Richard 'Rick' Spence

Richard ‘Rick’ Spence, age 67 of Spring Valley, died suddenly on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 at Western Wisconsin Health in Baldwin.

Visitation will be from 1-3 p.m. Sunday, February 2, at Keehr Funeral Home, Spring Valley.  Funeral service will be held at 3 p.m. at the funeral home.

Rick was born May 31, 1952 in Winnebago, Minnesota to Vernon and Eunice (Swanson Spence) Luebker.  In 1962, the Spence family moved to Spring Valley, WI.  He attended Spring Valley High School, graduating with the Class of 1970.

After high school, Rick entered the U.S. Navy and served for 2 years. On December 27, 1975 Rick married Kathy Darnell.  They were blessed with three children.

Rick attended Chippewa Valley Technical College, where he studied auto body repair.  He owned and operated the Valley Auto Body shop in Spring Valley for a number of years.  Rick also worked on the family farm and at Spence Construction with his father and brothers. Rick later attended Red Wing Technical College, where he studied to become a truck driver and drove over the road for several years.  Rick enjoyed working on old cars and he was a devoted Packer fan. He loved playing board games such as scrabble and chess. Rick had a great sense of humor and loved to joke around.

Preceding him in death were his father Vernon Spence; step-father Bernard Luebker; sister Eileen Spence; and nieces Alyssa Spence, Joelle Andreas, and Karen Sorhage.

He will be greatly missed by all of his family and friends: his wife Kathy; daughters and son:  Marilee (Terrell) Johnson; Darren Spence; and April (Luke) Olsen; his mother Eunice Luebker; siblings Terry (Shelly) Spence; Randy (Bobbi) Spence; and Amy (Mitch) Case; Sister-in-law Sue (Jim) Schleuder; honorary daughters Ann-Katrin Denn; and Victoria Holodnack; grandchildren Ethan Johnson; and baby girl Olsen (Due in April); nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.

To plant a beautiful memorial tree in memory of Richard 'Rick' Spence, please visit our Tree Store.