Pauline Luthy Spurgeon's Obituary
Pauline Luthy Spurgeon was born January 19, 1942 at her parents' home in Willisville, Illinois. She was the fifth of Howard R. Luthy and Lorene Edgar Luthy's eight children. She grew up on their farm, played catch with her siblings and listened to St. Louis Cardinals baseball games on the radio. She attended Swanwick and Winkle Elementary schools, then Pinckneyville high school, graduating in 1960. She followed a few of her sisters to work in the State Capital in Springfield, Illinois until she married Robert (Bob) M. Spurgeon in September of 1961 and moved to Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri where he was stationed in the U.S. Army. Bob and Pauline returned to Pinckneyville in January of 1963, shortly after the birth of their only child, Diane (Karl) Bushman. Pauline worked for U.S. Gypsum in Pinckneyville from 1965 until 1973 when the family began a nomadic trail between locales in Michigan and Indiana. Settling finally in Lansing, Michigan, Pauline was a legal secretary for Auto Owners Insurance, and then for the Attorney General of the State of Michigan until her retirement in 1997.
Pauline was an avid sports fan and a natural athlete. She was voted "Most Athletic" in her high school class because of her excellence at archery, volleyball, and softball. She played a fair game of tennis and racquetball, dabbled in golf, fished, and hunted a little too. She played city-league softball in Lansing, Michigan, on third base and then as pitcher, leading the league in home runs every year until she was over fifty years old.
Pauline and her family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1971 and she served in many leadership capacities in her congregations, and in LDS temples in Chicago, Detroit and St. Louis. When a temple was announced in Nauvoo, Illinois in April 1999 Bob and Pauline left their lake house in Michigan and built a house overlooking the Mississippi. They worked on the building site of the temple wearing hard hats and pushing brooms, then worked inside the temple for another seventeen years.
Among her many delights were Pauline's five grandchildren: Ted, Luke, Nadia (Ximmer) Conkling, Caroline (Joey) Wright, and Suzy Bushman. She took them camping, fishing and inner-tubing on the lake behind her house, taught them to ride bikes, introduced them to American Cheese and Cool Whip, and never acted disappointed that not one of her progeny can hit a ball with a bat. She was thrilled to meet her infant great-granddaughter Hazel just a few weeks ago.
Pauline was hilarious. She loved to laugh and to make others laugh. She cautioned: "If at first you don't succeed, maybe skydiving isn't for you." She encouraged young, cash-strapped newlyweds that they "could live on love for nine months and then eat the baby." She told us to never mind about heart disease, cancer, kidney disease (all of which she suffered from at various times) because death is actually the number one killer. And so it was. In the end it was death that got her. Preceding her in death are her parents and siblings Jeannine and Laverene (Doc) Luthy. Siblings Loren Dale, Aldene, Marilyn, Barbara, and Joe survive.
Graveside services will be held at Mueller Hill Cemetery, Pinckneyville, IL on Saturday, February 22, 2020 at 11:00 a.m. with Bishop Joe Smith officiating.
Pauline loved a bargain and deplored wasting money for any reason. In lieu of flowers, make an extra donation to your own 401K. That would please her.
Pyatt Funeral Home, Pinckneyville, IL has been entrusted with arrangements.
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