Bradley Lyle Spencer - "Barlow"
Brad was born in 1956 in Greeley, Colorado. He attended Greeley public schools while growing up in Evans, which is a suburb of Greeley. Brad was a good student. He participated in band, football, wrestling, and track. While growing up, Brad fished and hunted with his family, being taught by his father Vern. Brad enjoyed the outdoors and anything nature had to offer. In 1975 Brad joined the Army and proudly served for 4 years. When he finished his service he was last stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs.
Brad lived a quiet life, working at Kodak in Windsor, Bunting Trash Service in Evans, he was a partner with his wife Betty in the El Matador Restaurant in Evans, and at the time of his death was employed by Johnstown Ready Mix.
Brad had four children from his first marriage, three boys and a girl, then when he met Betty she had two daughters. Brad and Betty later adopted Betty's niece, giving them 7 kids total.
Brad was always raising animals throughout his life. He raised pigeons, pheasants, doves, ducks, geese, many dogs, a cow, and many more animals. To say he had a loving heart would be an understatement!
Brad was an avid fisherman and loved the outdoors. In the spring of 2003 while fishing and spending time with his friends at Lake Powell, Brad got a major sun burn on his shoulder. He didn't think much of the burn as he and his siblings had suffered many over the years. Later that year during a routine physical, he had the doctor look at a lump on his shoulder where the sun burn had been. A biopsy was performed and the tumor was found to be Desmoplastic Spindle Cell Melanoma, a rare and aggressive form of skin cancer. The entire tumor was removed, and x-rays indicated no reoccurrence. In January of 2005, during another check-up, cancer was found in the orginal incision area. In May, Brad underwent 14 days of radiation treatments. His body looked to be cancer free again. In September, Brad developed a cough, he was fatigued, wasn't eating much, and his body was hurting. An MRI showed that the cancer had spread into his lungs and liver. After numerous radical treatments that didn't help, Brad said "Enough! Let someone else have the medication that it can possibly help!" On February 6, 2006 Brad died at home in his sleep.
