wfn.org | Harry Spencer Dies at 91

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3352 notes).

Note 3346 by UMNS on Dec. 19, 1996 at 16:01 Eastern (2996 characters).

SEARCH: Harry Spencer, TRAFCO
Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
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CONTACT:  Ralph E. Baker                         634(10-71B){3346}
          Nashville, Tenn.   (615) 742-5470          Dec. 19, 1996

Harry Spencer, pioneer church
communicator, dies at 91

     NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- The Rev. Harry C. Spencer, 91, a
pioneer communicator in the United Methodist Church, died here
Dec. 18 after a lengthy illness.
     Spencer headed the radio, television and film production
agency of the former Methodist Church and its successor unit of
United Methodist Communications (UMCom) from 1952 until his
retirement in 1973.  
     In 1952 he was named staff executive of the Methodist Radio
and Film Commission, which became the Television, Radio and Film
Commission (TRAFCO) in 1956.  Under his leadership, the commission
grew from a staff of two people to more than 40, and produced
motion pictures, other audiovisuals, and radio and television
programs for the denomination.
     As head of the broadcast and film production agency, he was
executive producer of several popular films including John Wesley,
Hello Up There, Gold is the Way I Feel, Making a Difference and
Women, Amen!  He was executive producer for the television series
The Way, Talk Back and Breakthru and for Night Call, a nationwide
telephone call-in radio series.
     A leader in ecumenical communications ventures, Spencer was
the first chairman of the Radio, Audio-Visual Education and Mass
Communications Committee (RAVEMCCO) of the National Council of
Churches' Foreign Mission Division.  He chaired the Broadcasting
and Film Commission of the National Council of Churches, was
radio-television chairman of the 1961 World Council of Churches
Assembly in New Delhi, India, and was president of the First
Assembly of the World Association of Christian Communication in
Nairobi, Kenya, in 1968.
     He was winner of the 1973 Award for Excellence in the Arts of
Communications given by the School of Theology at Claremont
(Calif.).  In 1983 he was inducted into the United Methodist
Association of Communicators Hall of Fame.
     Born in Chicago, Spencer was ordained a Methodist minister in
1931.  He served as pastor of Methodist churches in the Chicago
area for four years before joining the Methodist Board of Missions
staff where he served until 1952.
     He earned his B.A. degree from Willamette University, Salem,
Ore.; B.D. from Garrett Biblical Institute, Evanston, Ill.; and
M.A. from Harvard Graduate School. He was given an honorary
doctorate by Willamette University.
     He is survived by his wife, Mary Louise (Wakefield) Spencer,
whom he married in 1935; a daughter, Mary Grace Lyman of North
Port, N.Y.; a son, Ralph W. Spencer of Toronto, Ont.; five
grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
     
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