NOVEMBER 22, 1932 – AUGUST 1, 2022
Obituary
Dr. Wendall Norman Spreadbury Jr., age 89, of Nacogdoches, Texas passed away on Monday, August 1, 2022. Wendall was born November 22, 1932 in Laceyville, Pennsylvania to Wendall Norman Spreadbury, Sr. and Margaret Adelia Arthur Spreadbury and lived in the northeastern states of NY, PA, VT, MA and Washington, DC before going to the Panama Canal Zone in April, 1941. In 1950 he graduated from Balboa High School in the Panama Canal Zone, in 1953 he graduated from the Panama Canal Zone College with an Associate of Arts Degree, in 1954 he joined the United States Marine Corps, in 1959 he received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Petroleum Geology from the University of Texas in Austin, in 1964 he received his Masters Degree in Physics from Loyola of the South University in New Orleans, Louisiana and in 1968 he received his Doctorate in Science Education from Oklahoma State University and did post doctorate work at Texas A&M in later years.
Long before retiring in 1995 from Stephen F. Austin State University as a full professor, he was employed on the Panama Canal Locks Overhaul in 1953, was employed by seismic exploration company on the gulf coast in 1957, the Atomic Energy Commission in 1961, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Head Quarters in Washington, D.C. and at the Manned Space Flight Center in Houston and the Marshall Space Center in Huntsville, Alabama in and from 1963, all before Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, the American Chemical Society and the US Agency for International Development while stationed in San Jose, Costa Rica in 1965.
He began his teaching career in Boerne, Texas in 1959, and taught Physics and Math at the Isadore Newman School in New Orleans in 1961 and was on the faculty of Oklahoma State University in Stillwater in 1965 before becoming a faculty member of SFASU in 1967. At SFASU he was given a joint appointment to the physics department and the education department. During his tenure at SFASU he taught physics, science education, computer science, and radio television as well as directing the campus TV facilities and several Aerospace Workshops for public school teachers.
Before his lengthy retirement he and his spouse, Dr. Connie Marie Lizotte Spreadbury ran a small ranch north of Nacogdoches and owned and operated a number of near campus rental houses and apartments that were exclusively rented to SFASU students. In 1994 the Spreadburys gave the rental properties to SFASU in the form of a Charitable Remainder Trust.
During retirement Wendall formed and started three antique car clubs and a founding member in the Red River antique car club of the Hudson Essex Terraplane National Club and founding president of the ArkLaTex Packard Club of the national Packard Automobile Classics Club and was the founding president of the Deep East Texas Region of the Antique Automobile Club of America until 2002. He was a collector of antique cars and had owned about four hundred cars during his lifetime and still had about 100 antique cars when he was in his eighties. His collection was composed of mostly Packards, Volkswagens, Buicks, Hudsons, Studebakers, Nashes, Ramblers, and one 1948 Mk IV Jaguar Drophead Coupe’ (which his father bought new in Panama) and one Duesenberg Cabriolet.
He and his spouse were great lovers of animals and gave a home to many dogs and cats.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.casonmonk-metcalf.com for the Spreadbury family.