Crossing Borders

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With his father lost to the Influenza Epic of 1918 before he was born, a boyhood divided between two homes, and a working mother, teaching to support her new family, John Spence learned early to find friends wherever he landed--even when he landed behind enemy lines in a momentous jump from a falling B-17 during World War II. After his release from the Army Air Force, John got his first job as a reporter and married the boss's daughter, the beautiful Mary Ann Simonton. Making daily rounds in Memphis, collecting opinions from City Hall official to the local gas station owner, John listened respectfully and reported objectively. He formed a lunch group, the Wolf River Society for the Preservation of Taking Oneself Too Seriously, and developed a knack for getting like-minded and not so like-minded people together to work toward a common cause. John served as an assistant director of the mid-South office of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights during a crucial era for racial equality in America. Though sadly disillusioned with what seemed then, like the failure of his beloved Memphis to cope during the crucial events surrounding Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination, John continued to promote purposeful gatherings. He demonstrated against the Vietnam War, became a teacher, and formed the Wolf River Conservancy. John Wilson Spence died in 2008. Crossing Borders is the memoir he worked on before his death and which was completed and edited by George W. Grider, Jr.