Ranel Bivens Spence, M.D., of Florence, Ala., died March 10, 2014, at Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital. He was 85.
Dr. Spence was born March 28, 1928, in Camden, Tenn. He discovered his calling in his early teens when his expertise in diagnosing and treating sick chickens began to attract farmers seeking advice. He attended Lambuth College and the University of Tennessee and earned a doctor of medicine degree from the University of Tennessee Memphis in 1953. After an internship in St. Petersburg, Fla., he served in the United States Air Force Medical Corps. He completed a fellowship in internal medicine at Ochsner Medical Foundation in New Orleans in 1959, and was a staff physician with the Veterans Administration in Nashville.
Dr. Spence moved to Florence in 1962, and joined the Florence Clinic where he was a partner until 1996. He was board certified in internal medicine. On the ECM Hospital medical staff from 1962 until 2013, he held various leadership positions including chief of staff and physician advisor of utilization review. The administration and medical staff honored Dr. Spence in 2012 for 50 years of service. He was a physician with Hospice of the Shoals until October 2013.
Dr. Spence cherished his family and friends and especially enjoyed regaling them with jokes and stories from his past. He was a passionate gardener of fruits and vegetables and an accomplished cook.
He was preceded in death by his parents, George Mike Spence and Ruth Bivens Spence.
He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Sue Marie Wood Spence; daughters, Sharon Spence Bailey (Jim), Memphis, Tenn., Kathryn Spence Mabry (Mike), Mooresville, N.C., and Janet Spence Holland, (John), Dallas, Texas; and grandchildren, Claire Bailey, Spence Bailey, Zack Mabry, Jackie Mabry, Matt Holland, and David Holland.
The family thanks the physicians, nurses, caregivers and hospital staff, many of them Dr. Spence’s colleagues, who took loving care of him during his final illness.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials to Trinity Episcopal Church, P.O. Box M, Florence, 35631, Hospice of the Shoals, 115 Fairground Rd., Florence, 35630, or a charity of your choice .
A service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 15, at Trinity Episcopal Church. Visitation is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. preceding the service. Officiating will be the Rev. Andrew C. Keyse. Burial follows at Greenview Memorial Park.
Elkins Funeral Home is assisting the family.
