| Notes |
He was born at home at 6701 N. Sheridan Road in Chicago, Illinois. His German-American father had been a small boy during the Chicago Fire and had been a successful businessman. His Irish Catholic mother, Mae Dempsey had grown up on a farm in Iowa. She moved to Chicago shortly after the turn of the century, and married William Spoeri, a widower. Bob was the youngest of his father's six children and his mother's three children. His half-brother Walter and his half-sister Gladys died as small children. His half-sister Katherine (Kay) was a classmate at Senn High School with Gloria Swanson. Bob's mother saw to it that he had sixteen years of Jesuit education. He attended St. Ignatius Grade School and Loyola Academy, and then graduated from Loyola University. In 1938, he came in second place for a scholarship for a master's degree program at Harvard University. He chose to stay in Chicago. During summer vacations, he worked as a lifeguard at Chicago's Touhy Avenue Beach along Lake Michigan. When World War II arrived, he joined the navy. He was a "90-day wonder" who received his expedited military training in 1941 at Abbott Hall at Northwestern University. He was commissioned as a lieutenant and became the navigator on the USS Granville, which served in the Pacific Theater of the war. He was in Japan only hours after VJ Day. He fell in love and married Rosemary Lane in 1949. To support heir five children, he initially worked as a sales representative for Frieden Corporation. He then purchased a Volkswagen dealership in 1964 in La Salle-Peru, Illinois and moved his family to nearby Spring Valley, Illinois. The Spoeri clan returned to Chicago and Rogers Park in 1975, and he worked as a real estate agent for Long Kogen. He sometimes wrote articles for the Northside Real Estate Magazine. He served on the Legislative Tax Committee for the Chicago Real Estate Board. Earlier, he had belonged to the Cosmopolitan Club, a social organization of professionals and businessmen. He enjoyed playing poker and telling stories. He especially liked words and word games. His favorite poem was Longfellow's "Psalm to Life," which he often recited in the morning, to the amusement and/or aggravation of his family. A committed sportsman, he taught his children all of the fundamentals of baseball and football. He played competitively at golf, tennis, handball and racquetball into his early seventies, often beating opponents younger than his children. In his later years, he developed an interest in creative writing and attended writing classes at Truman College on Chicago's Northside. He died a month before his seventy-fourth birthday in the spring of 1990. (July 2000)
He was born at home at 6701 N. Sheridan Road in Chicago, Illinois. His German-American father had been a small boy during the Chicago Fire and had been a successful businessman. His Irish Catholic mother, Mae Dempsey had grown up on a farm in Iowa. She moved to Chicago shortly after the turn of the century, and married William Spoeri, a widower. Bob was the youngest of his father's six children and his mother's three children. His half-brother Walter and his half-sister Gladys died as small children. His half-sister Katherine (Kay) was a classmate at Senn High School with Gloria Swanson. Bob's mother saw to it that he had sixteen years of Jesuit education. He attended St. Ignatius Grade School and Loyola Academy, and then graduated from Loyola University. In 1938, he came in second place for a scholarship for a master's degree program at Harvard University. He chose to stay in Chicago. During summer vacations, he worked as a lifeguard at Chicago's Touhy Avenue Beach along Lake Michigan.
When World War II arrived, he joined the navy. He was a "90-day wonder" who received his expedited military training in 1941 at Abbott Hall at Northwestern University. He was commissioned as a lieutenant and became the navigator on the USS Granville, which served in the Pacific Theater of the war. He was in Japan only hours after VJ Day. He fell in love and married Rosemary Lane in 1949. To support heir five children, he initially worked as a sales representative for Frieden Corporation. He then purchased a Volkswagen dealership in 1964 in La Salle-Peru, Illinois and moved his family to nearby Spring Valley, Illinois. The Spoeri clan returned to Chicago and Rogers Park in 1975, and he worked as a real estate agent for Long Kogen. He sometimes wrote articles for the Northside Real Estate Magazine. He served on the Legislative Tax Committee for the Chicago Real Estate Board. Earlier, he had belonged to the Cosmopolitan Club, a social organization of professionals and businessmen. He enjoyed playing poker and telling stories. He especially liked words and word games. His favorite poem was Longfellow's "Psalm to Life," which he often recited in the morning, to the amusement and/or aggravation of his family. A committed sportsman, he taught his children all of the fundamentals of baseball and football. He played competitively at golf, tennis, handball and racquetball into his early seventies, often beating opponents younger than his children. In his later years, he developed an interest in creative writing and attended writing classes at Truman College on Chicago's Northside. He died a month before his seventy-fourth birthday in the spring of 1990. (July 2000)
He was born at home at 6701 N. Sheridan Road in Chicago, Illinois. His German-American father had been a small boy during the Chicago Fire and had been a successful businessman. His Irish Catholic mother, Mae Dempsey had grown up on a farm in Iowa. She moved to Chicago shortly after the turn of the century, and married William Spoeri, a widower. Bob was the youngest of his father's six children and his mother's three children. His half-brother Walter and his half-sister Gladys died as small children. His half-sister Katherine (Kay) was a classmate at Senn High School with Gloria Swanson. Bob's mother saw to it that he had sixteen years of Jesuit education. He attended St. Ignatius Grade School and Loyola Academy, and then graduated from Loyola University. In 1938, he came in second place for a scholarship for a master's degree program at Harvard University. He chose to stay in Chicago. During summer vacations, he worked as a lifeguard at Chicago's Touhy Avenue Beach along Lake Michigan. When World War II arrived, he joined the navy. He was a "90-day wonder" who received his expedited military training in 1941 at Abbott Hall at Northwestern University. He was commissioned as a lieutenant and became the navigator on the USS Granville, which served in the Pacific Theater of the war. He was in Japan only hours after VJ Day. He fell in love and married Rosemary Lane in 1949. To support heir five children, he initially worked as a sales representative for Frieden Corporation. He then purchased a Volkswagen dealership in 1964 in La Salle-Peru, Illinois and moved his family to nearby Spring Valley, Illinois. The Spoeri clan returned to Chicago and Rogers Park in 1975, and he worked as a real estate agent for Long Kogen. He sometimes wrote articles for the Northside Real Estate Magazine. He served on the Legislative Tax Committee for the Chicago Real Estate Board. Earlier, he had belonged to the Cosmopolitan Club, a social organization of professionals and businessmen. He enjoyed playing poker and telling stories. He especially liked words and word games. His favorite poem was Longfellow's "Psalm to Life," which he often recited in the morning, to the amusement and/or aggravation of his family. A committed sportsman, he taught his children all of the fundamentals of baseball and football. He played competitively at golf, tennis, handball and racquetball into his early seventies, often beating opponents younger than his children. In his later years, he developed an interest in creative writing and attended writing classes at Truman College on Chicago's Northside. He died a month before his seventy-fourth birthday in the spring of 1990. (July 2000)
He was born at home at 6701 N. Sheridan Road in Chicago, Illinois. His German-American father had been a small boy during the Chicago Fire and had been a successful businessman. His Irish Catholic mother, Mae Dempsey had grown up on a farm in Iowa. She moved to Chicago shortly after the turn of the century, and married William Spoeri, a widower. Bob was the youngest of his father's six children and his mother's three children. His half-brother Walter and his half-sister Gladys died as small children. His half-sister Katherine (Kay) was a classmate at Senn High School with Gloria Swanson. Bob's mother saw to it that he had sixteen years of Jesuit education. He attended St. Ignatius Grade School and Loyola Academy, and then graduated from Loyola University. In 1938, he came in second place for a scholarship for a master's degree program at Harvard University. He chose to stay in Chicago. During summer vacations, he worked as a lifeguard at Chicago's Touhy Avenue Beach along Lake Michigan.
When World War II arrived, he joined the navy. He was a "90-day wonder" who received his expedited military training in 1941 at Abbott Hall at Northwestern University. He was commissioned as a lieutenant and became the navigator on the USS Granville, which served in the Pacific Theater of the war. He was in Japan only hours after VJ Day. He fell in love and married Rosemary Lane in 1949. To support heir five children, he initially worked as a sales representative for Frieden Corporation. He then purchased a Volkswagen dealership in 1964 in La Salle-Peru, Illinois and moved his family to nearby Spring Valley, Illinois. The Spoeri clan returned to Chicago and Rogers Park in 1975, and he worked as a real estate agent for Long Kogen. He sometimes wrote articles for the Northside Real Estate Magazine. He served on the Legislative Tax Committee for the Chicago Real Estate Board. Earlier, he had belonged to the Cosmopolitan Club, a social organization of professionals and businessmen. He enjoyed playing poker and telling stories. He especially liked words and word games. His favorite poem was Longfellow's "Psalm to Life," which he often recited in the morning, to the amusement and/or aggravation of his family. A committed sportsman, he taught his children all of the fundamentals of baseball and football. He played competitively at golf, tennis, handball and racquetball into his early seventies, often beating opponents younger than his children. In his later years, he developed an interest in creative writing and attended writing classes at Truman College on Chicago's Northside. He died a month before his seventy-fourth birthday in the spring of 1990. (July 2000)
He was born at home at 6701 N. Sheridan Road in Chicago, Illinois. His German-American father had been a small boy during the Chicago Fire and had been a successful businessman. His Irish Catholic mother, Mae Dempsey had grown up on a farm in Iowa. She moved to Chicago shortly after the turn of the century, and married William Spoeri, a widower. Bob was the youngest of his father's six children and his mother's three children. His half-brother Walter and his half-sister Gladys died as small children. His half-sister Katherine (Kay) was a classmate at Senn High School with Gloria Swanson. Bob's mother saw to it that he had sixteen years of Jesuit education. He attended St. Ignatius Grade School and Loyola Academy, and then graduated from Loyola University. In 1938, he came in second place for a scholarship for a master's degree program at Harvard University. He chose to stay in Chicago. During summer vacations, he worked as a lifeguard at Chicago's Touhy Avenue Beach along Lake Michigan. When World War II arrived, he joined the navy. He was a "90-day wonder" who received his expedited military training in 1941 at Abbott Hall at Northwestern University. He was commissioned as a lieutenant and became the navigator on the USS Granville, which served in the Pacific Theater of the war. He was in Japan only hours after VJ Day. He fell in love and married Rosemary Lane in 1949. To support heir five children, he initially worked as a sales representative for Frieden Corporation. He then purchased a Volkswagen dealership in 1964 in La Salle-Peru, Illinois and moved his family to nearby Spring Valley, Illinois. The Spoeri clan returned to Chicago and Rogers Park in 1975, and he worked as a real estate agent for Long Kogen. He sometimes wrote articles for the Northside Real Estate Magazine. He served on the Legislative Tax Committee for the Chicago Real Estate Board. Earlier, he had belonged to the Cosmopolitan Club, a social organization of professionals and businessmen. He enjoyed playing poker and telling stories. He especially liked words and word games. His favorite poem was Longfellow's "Psalm to Life," which he often recited in the morning, to the amusement and/or aggravation of his family. A committed sportsman, he taught his children all of the fundamentals of baseball and football. He played competitively at golf, tennis, handball and racquetball into his early seventies, often beating opponents younger than his children. In his later years, he developed an interest in creative writing and attended writing classes at Truman College on Chicago's Northside. He died a month before his seventy-fourth birthday in the spring of 1990. (July 2000)
He was born at home at 6701 N. Sheridan Road in Chicago, Illinois. His German-American father had been a small boy during the Chicago Fire and had been a successful businessman. His Irish Catholic mother, Mae Dempsey had grown up on a farm in Iowa. She moved to Chicago shortly after the turn of the century, and married William Spoeri, a widower. Bob was the youngest of his father's six children and his mother's three children. His half-brother Walter and his half-sister Gladys died as small children. His half-sister Katherine (Kay) was a classmate at Senn High School with Gloria Swanson. Bob's mother saw to it that he had sixteen years of Jesuit education. He attended St. Ignatius Grade School and Loyola Academy, and then graduated from Loyola University. In 1938, he came in second place for a scholarship for a master's degree program at Harvard University. He chose to stay in Chicago. During summer vacations, he worked as a lifeguard at Chicago's Touhy Avenue Beach along Lake Michigan.
When World War II arrived, he joined the navy. He was a "90-day wonder" who received his expedited military training in 1941 at Abbott Hall at Northwestern University. He was commissioned as a lieutenant and became the navigator on the USS Granville, which served in the Pacific Theater of the war. He was in Japan only hours after VJ Day. He fell in love and married Rosemary Lane in 1949. To support heir five children, he initially worked as a sales representative for Frieden Corporation. He then purchased a Volkswagen dealership in 1964 in La Salle-Peru, Illinois and moved his family to nearby Spring Valley, Illinois. The Spoeri clan returned to Chicago and Rogers Park in 1975, and he worked as a real estate agent for Long Kogen. He sometimes wrote articles for the Northside Real Estate Magazine. He served on the Legislative Tax Committee for the Chicago Real Estate Board. Earlier, he had belonged to the Cosmopolitan Club, a social organization of professionals and businessmen. He enjoyed playing poker and telling stories. He especially liked words and word games. His favorite poem was Longfellow's "Psalm to Life," which he often recited in the morning, to the amusement and/or aggravation of his family. A committed sportsman, he taught his children all of the fundamentals of baseball and football. He played competitively at golf, tennis, handball and racquetball into his early seventies, often beating opponents younger than his children. In his later years, he developed an interest in creative writing and attended writing classes at Truman College on Chicago's Northside. He died a month before his seventy-fourth birthday in the spring of 1990. (July 2000)
He was born at home at 6701 N. Sheridan Road in Chicago, Illinois. His German-American father had been a small boy during the Chicago Fire and had been a successful businessman. His Irish Catholic mother, Mae Dempsey had grown up on a farm in Iowa. She moved to Chicago shortly after the turn of the century, and married William Spoeri, a widower. Bob was the youngest of his father's six children and his mother's three children. His half-brother Walter and his half-sister Gladys died as small children. His half-sister Katherine (Kay) was a classmate at Senn High School with Gloria Swanson. Bob's mother saw to it that he had sixteen years of Jesuit education. He attended St. Ignatius Grade School and Loyola Academy, and then graduated from Loyola University. In 1938, he came in second place for a scholarship for a master's degree program at Harvard University. He chose to stay in Chicago. During summer vacations, he worked as a lifeguard at Chicago's Touhy Avenue Beach along Lake Michigan. When World War II arrived, he joined the navy. He was a "90-day wonder" who received his expedited military training in 1941 at Abbott Hall at Northwestern University. He was commissioned as a lieutenant and became the navigator on the USS Granville, which served in the Pacific Theater of the war. He was in Japan only hours after VJ Day. He fell in love and married Rosemary Lane in 1949. To support heir five children, he initially worked as a sales representative for Frieden Corporation. He then purchased a Volkswagen dealership in 1964 in La Salle-Peru, Illinois and moved his family to nearby Spring Valley, Illinois. The Spoeri clan returned to Chicago and Rogers Park in 1975, and he worked as a real estate agent for Long Kogen. He sometimes wrote articles for the Northside Real Estate Magazine. He served on the Legislative Tax Committee for the Chicago Real Estate Board. Earlier, he had belonged to the Cosmopolitan Club, a social organization of professionals and businessmen. He enjoyed playing poker and telling stories. He especially liked words and word games. His favorite poem was Longfellow's "Psalm to Life," which he often recited in the morning, to the amusement and/or aggravation of his family. A committed sportsman, he taught his children all of the fundamentals of baseball and football. He played competitively at golf, tennis, handball and racquetball into his early seventies, often beating opponents younger than his children. In his later years, he developed an interest in creative writing and attended writing classes at Truman College on Chicago's Northside. He died a month before his seventy-fourth birthday in the spring of 1990. (July 2000)
He was born at home at 6701 N. Sheridan Road in Chicago, Illinois. His German-American father had been a small boy during the Chicago Fire and had been a successful businessman. His Irish Catholic mother, Mae Dempsey had grown up on a farm in Iowa. She moved to Chicago shortly after the turn of the century, and married William Spoeri, a widower. Bob was the youngest of his father's six children and his mother's three children. His half-brother Walter and his half-sister Gladys died as small children. His half-sister Katherine (Kay) was a classmate at Senn High School with Gloria Swanson. Bob's mother saw to it that he had sixteen years of Jesuit education. He attended St. Ignatius Grade School and Loyola Academy, and then graduated from Loyola University. In 1938, he came in second place for a scholarship for a master's degree program at Harvard University. He chose to stay in Chicago. During summer vacations, he worked as a lifeguard at Chicago's Touhy Avenue Beach along Lake Michigan.
When World War II arrived, he joined the navy. He was a "90-day wonder" who received his expedited military training in 1941 at Abbott Hall at Northwestern University. He was commissioned as a lieutenant and became the navigator on the USS Granville, which served in the Pacific Theater of the war. He was in Japan only hours after VJ Day. He fell in love and married Rosemary Lane in 1949. To support heir five children, he initially worked as a sales representative for Frieden Corporation. He then purchased a Volkswagen dealership in 1964 in La Salle-Peru, Illinois and moved his family to nearby Spring Valley, Illinois. The Spoeri clan returned to Chicago and Rogers Park in 1975, and he worked as a real estate agent for Long Kogen. He sometimes wrote articles for the Northside Real Estate Magazine. He served on the Legislative Tax Committee for the Chicago Real Estate Board. Earlier, he had belonged to the Cosmopolitan Club, a social organization of professionals and businessmen. He enjoyed playing poker and telling stories. He especially liked words and word games. His favorite poem was Longfellow's "Psalm to Life," which he often recited in the morning, to the amusement and/or aggravation of his family. A committed sportsman, he taught his children all of the fundamentals of baseball and football. He played competitively at golf, tennis, handball and racquetball into his early seventies, often beating opponents younger than his children. In his later years, he developed an interest in creative writing and attended writing classes at Truman College on Chicago's Northside. He died a month before his seventy-fourth birthday in the spring of 1990. (July 2000)
He was born at home at 6701 N. Sheridan Road in Chicago, Illinois. His German-American father had been a small boy during the Chicago Fire and had been a successful businessman. His Irish Catholic mother, Mae Dempsey had grown up on a farm in Iowa. She moved to Chicago shortly after the turn of the century, and married William Spoeri, a widower. Bob was the youngest of his father's six children and his mother's three children. His half-brother Walter and his half-sister Gladys died as small children. His half-sister Katherine (Kay) was a classmate at Senn High School with Gloria Swanson. Bob's mother saw to it that he had sixteen years of Jesuit education. He attended St. Ignatius Grade School and Loyola Academy, and then graduated from Loyola University. In 1938, he came in second place for a scholarship for a master's degree program at Harvard University. He chose to stay in Chicago. During summer vacations, he worked as a lifeguard at Chicago's Touhy Avenue Beach along Lake Michigan. When World War II arrived, he joined the navy. He was a "90-day wonder" who received his expedited military training in 1941 at Abbott Hall at Northwestern University. He was commissioned as a lieutenant and became the navigator on the USS Granville, which served in the Pacific Theater of the war. He was in Japan only hours after VJ Day. He fell in love and married Rosemary Lane in 1949. To support heir five children, he initially worked as a sales representative for Frieden Corporation. He then purchased a Volkswagen dealership in 1964 in La Salle-Peru, Illinois and moved his family to nearby Spring Valley, Illinois. The Spoeri clan returned to Chicago and Rogers Park in 1975, and he worked as a real estate agent for Long Kogen. He sometimes wrote articles for the Northside Real Estate Magazine. He served on the Legislative Tax Committee for the Chicago Real Estate Board. Earlier, he had belonged to the Cosmopolitan Club, a social organization of professionals and businessmen. He enjoyed playing poker and telling stories. He especially liked words and word games. His favorite poem was Longfellow's "Psalm to Life," which he often recited in the morning, to the amusement and/or aggravation of his family. A committed sportsman, he taught his children all of the fundamentals of baseball and football. He played competitively at golf, tennis, handball and racquetball into his early seventies, often beating opponents younger than his children. In his later years, he developed an interest in creative writing and attended writing classes at Truman College on Chicago's Northside. He died a month before his seventy-fourth birthday in the spring of 1990. (July 2000)
He was born at home at 6701 N. Sheridan Road in Chicago, Illinois. His German-American father had been a small boy during the Chicago Fire and had been a successful businessman. His Irish Catholic mother, Mae Dempsey had grown up on a farm in Iowa. She moved to Chicago shortly after the turn of the century, and married William Spoeri, a widower. Bob was the youngest of his father's six children and his mother's three children. His half-brother Walter and his half-sister Gladys died as small children. His half-sister Katherine (Kay) was a classmate at Senn High School with Gloria Swanson. Bob's mother saw to it that he had sixteen years of Jesuit education. He attended St. Ignatius Grade School and Loyola Academy, and then graduated from Loyola University. In 1938, he came in second place for a scholarship for a master's degree program at Harvard University. He chose to stay in Chicago. During summer vacations, he worked as a lifeguard at Chicago's Touhy Avenue Beach along Lake Michigan.
When World War II arrived, he joined the navy. He was a "90-day wonder" who received his expedited military training in 1941 at Abbott Hall at Northwestern University. He was commissioned as a lieutenant and became the navigator on the USS Granville, which served in the Pacific Theater of the war. He was in Japan only hours after VJ Day. He fell in love and married Rosemary Lane in 1949. To support heir five children, he initially worked as a sales representative for Frieden Corporation. He then purchased a Volkswagen dealership in 1964 in La Salle-Peru, Illinois and moved his family to nearby Spring Valley, Illinois. The Spoeri clan returned to Chicago and Rogers Park in 1975, and he worked as a real estate agent for Long Kogen. He sometimes wrote articles for the Northside Real Estate Magazine. He served on the Legislative Tax Committee for the Chicago Real Estate Board. Earlier, he had belonged to the Cosmopolitan Club, a social organization of professionals and businessmen. He enjoyed playing poker and telling stories. He especially liked words and word games. His favorite poem was Longfellow's "Psalm to Life," which he often recited in the morning, to the amusement and/or aggravation of his family. A committed sportsman, he taught his children all of the fundamentals of baseball and football. He played competitively at golf, tennis, handball and racquetball into his early seventies, often beating opponents younger than his children. In his later years, he developed an interest in creative writing and attended writing classes at Truman College on Chicago's Northside. He died a month before his seventy-fourth birthday in the spring of 1990. (July 2000)
He was born at home at 6701 N. Sheridan Road in Chicago, Illinois. His German-American father had been a small boy during the Chicago Fire and had been a successful businessman. His Irish Catholic mother, Mae Dempsey had grown up on a farm in Iowa. She moved to Chicago shortly after the turn of the century, and married William Spoeri, a widower. Bob was the youngest of his father's six children and his mother's three children. His half-brother Walter and his half-sister Gladys died as small children. His half-sister Katherine (Kay) was a classmate at Senn High School with Gloria Swanson. Bob's mother saw to it that he had sixteen years of Jesuit education. He attended St. Ignatius Grade School and Loyola Academy, and then graduated from Loyola University. In 1938, he came in second place for a scholarship for a master's degree program at Harvard University. He chose to stay in Chicago. During summer vacations, he worked as a lifeguard at Chicago's Touhy Avenue Beach along Lake Michigan. When World War II arrived, he joined the navy. He was a "90-day wonder" who received his expedited military training in 1941 at Abbott Hall at Northwestern University. He was commissioned as a lieutenant and became the navigator on the USS Granville, which served in the Pacific Theater of the war. He was in Japan only hours after VJ Day. He fell in love and married Rosemary Lane in 1949. To support heir five children, he initially worked as a sales representative for Frieden Corporation. He then purchased a Volkswagen dealership in 1964 in La Salle-Peru, Illinois and moved his family to nearby Spring Valley, Illinois. The Spoeri clan returned to Chicago and Rogers Park in 1975, and he worked as a real estate agent for Long Kogen. He sometimes wrote articles for the Northside Real Estate Magazine. He served on the Legislative Tax Committee for the Chicago Real Estate Board. Earlier, he had belonged to the Cosmopolitan Club, a social organization of professionals and businessmen. He enjoyed playing poker and telling stories. He especially liked words and word games. His favorite poem was Longfellow's "Psalm to Life," which he often recited in the morning, to the amusement and/or aggravation of his family. A committed sportsman, he taught his children all of the fundamentals of baseball and football. He played competitively at golf, tennis, handball and racquetball into his early seventies, often beating opponents younger than his children. In his later years, he developed an interest in creative writing and attended writing classes at Truman College on Chicago's Northside. He died a month before his seventy-fourth birthday in the spring of 1990. (July 2000)
He was born at home at 6701 N. Sheridan Road in Chicago, Illinois. His German-American father had been a small boy during the Chicago Fire and had been a successful businessman. His Irish Catholic mother, Mae Dempsey had grown up on a farm in Iowa. She moved to Chicago shortly after the turn of the century, and married William Spoeri, a widower. Bob was the youngest of his father's six children and his mother's three children. His half-brother Walter and his half-sister Gladys died as small children. His half-sister Katherine (Kay) was a classmate at Senn High School with Gloria Swanson. Bob's mother saw to it that he had sixteen years of Jesuit education. He attended St. Ignatius Grade School and Loyola Academy, and then graduated from Loyola University. In 1938, he came in second place for a scholarship for a master's degree program at Harvard University. He chose to stay in Chicago. During summer vacations, he worked as a lifeguard at Chicago's Touhy Avenue Beach along Lake Michigan.
When World War II arrived, he joined the navy. He was a "90-day wonder" who received his expedited military training in 1941 at Abbott Hall at Northwestern University. He was commissioned as a lieutenant and became the navigator on the USS Granville, which served in the Pacific Theater of the war. He was in Japan only hours after VJ Day. He fell in love and married Rosemary Lane in 1949. To support heir five children, he initially worked as a sales representative for Frieden Corporation. He then purchased a Volkswagen dealership in 1964 in La Salle-Peru, Illinois and moved his family to nearby Spring Valley, Illinois. The Spoeri clan returned to Chicago and Rogers Park in 1975, and he worked as a real estate agent for Long Kogen. He sometimes wrote articles for the Northside Real Estate Magazine. He served on the Legislative Tax Committee for the Chicago Real Estate Board. Earlier, he had belonged to the Cosmopolitan Club, a social organization of professionals and businessmen. He enjoyed playing poker and telling stories. He especially liked words and word games. His favorite poem was Longfellow's "Psalm to Life," which he often recited in the morning, to the amusement and/or aggravation of his family. A committed sportsman, he taught his children all of the fundamentals of baseball and football. He played competitively at golf, tennis, handball and racquetball into his early seventies, often beating opponents younger than his children. In his later years, he developed an interest in creative writing and attended writing classes at Truman College on Chicago's Northside. He died a month before his seventy-fourth birthday in the spring of 1990. (July 2000)
He was born at home at 6701 N. Sheridan Road in Chicago, Illinois. His German-American father had been a small boy during the Chicago Fire and had been a successful businessman. His Irish Catholic mother, Mae Dempsey had grown up on a farm in Iowa. She moved to Chicago shortly after the turn of the century, and married William Spoeri, a widower. Bob was the youngest of his father's six children and his mother's three children. His half-brother Walter and his half-sister Gladys died as small children. His half-sister Katherine (Kay) was a classmate at Senn High School with Gloria Swanson. Bob's mother saw to it that he had sixteen years of Jesuit education. He attended St. Ignatius Grade School and Loyola Academy, and then graduated from Loyola University. In 1938, he came in second place for a scholarship for a master's degree program at Harvard University. He chose to stay in Chicago. During summer vacations, he worked as a lifeguard at Chicago's Touhy Avenue Beach along Lake Michigan. When World War II arrived, he joined the navy. He was a "90-day wonder" who received his expedited military training in 1941 at Abbott Hall at Northwestern University. He was commissioned as a lieutenant and became the navigator on the USS Granville, which served in the Pacific Theater of the war. He was in Japan only hours after VJ Day. He fell in love and married Rosemary Lane in 1949. To support heir five children, he initially worked as a sales representative for Frieden Corporation. He then purchased a Volkswagen dealership in 1964 in La Salle-Peru, Illinois and moved his family to nearby Spring Valley, Illinois. The Spoeri clan returned to Chicago and Rogers Park in 1975, and he worked as a real estate agent for Long Kogen. He sometimes wrote articles for the Northside Real Estate Magazine. He served on the Legislative Tax Committee for the Chicago Real Estate Board. Earlier, he had belonged to the Cosmopolitan Club, a social organization of professionals and businessmen. He enjoyed playing poker and telling stories. He especially liked words and word games. His favorite poem was Longfellow's "Psalm to Life," which he often recited in the morning, to the amusement and/or aggravation of his family. A committed sportsman, he taught his children all of the fundamentals of baseball and football. He played competitively at golf, tennis, handball and racquetball into his early seventies, often beating opponents younger than his children. In his later years, he developed an interest in creative writing and attended writing classes at Truman College on Chicago's Northside. He died a month before his seventy-fourth birthday in the spring of 1990. (July 2000)
He was born at home at 6701 N. Sheridan Road in Chicago, Illinois. His German-American father had been a small boy during the Chicago Fire and had been a successful businessman. His Irish Catholic mother, Mae Dempsey had grown up on a farm in Iowa. She moved to Chicago shortly after the turn of the century, and married William Spoeri, a widower. Bob was the youngest of his father's six children and his mother's three children. His half-brother Walter and his half-sister Gladys died as small children. His half-sister Katherine (Kay) was a classmate at Senn High School with Gloria Swanson. Bob's mother saw to it that he had sixteen years of Jesuit education. He attended St. Ignatius Grade School and Loyola Academy, and then graduated from Loyola University. In 1938, he came in second place for a scholarship for a master's degree program at Harvard University. He chose to stay in Chicago. During summer vacations, he worked as a lifeguard at Chicago's Touhy Avenue Beach along Lake Michigan.
When World War II arrived, he joined the navy. He was a "90-day wonder" who received his expedited military training in 1941 at Abbott Hall at Northwestern University. He was commissioned as a lieutenant and became the navigator on the USS Granville, which served in the Pacific Theater of the war. He was in Japan only hours after VJ Day. He fell in love and married Rosemary Lane in 1949. To support heir five children, he initially worked as a sales representative for Frieden Corporation. He then purchased a Volkswagen dealership in 1964 in La Salle-Peru, Illinois and moved his family to nearby Spring Valley, Illinois. The Spoeri clan returned to Chicago and Rogers Park in 1975, and he worked as a real estate agent for Long Kogen. He sometimes wrote articles for the Northside Real Estate Magazine. He served on the Legislative Tax Committee for the Chicago Real Estate Board. Earlier, he had belonged to the Cosmopolitan Club, a social organization of professionals and businessmen. He enjoyed playing poker and telling stories. He especially liked words and word games. His favorite poem was Longfellow's "Psalm to Life," which he often recited in the morning, to the amusement and/or aggravation of his family. A committed sportsman, he taught his children all of the fundamentals of baseball and football. He played competitively at golf, tennis, handball and racquetball into his early seventies, often beating opponents younger than his children. In his later years, he developed an interest in creative writing and attended writing classes at Truman College on Chicago's Northside. He died a month before his seventy-fourth birthday in the spring of 1990. (July 2000)
He was born at home at 6701 N. Sheridan Road in Chicago, Illinois. His German-American father had been a small boy during the Chicago Fire and had been a successful businessman. His Irish Catholic mother, Mae Dempsey had grown up on a farm in Iowa. She moved to Chicago shortly after the turn of the century, and married William Spoeri, a widower. Bob was the youngest of his father's six children and his mother's three children. His half-brother Walter and his half-sister Gladys died as small children. His half-sister Katherine (Kay) was a classmate at Senn High School with Gloria Swanson. Bob's mother saw to it that he had sixteen years of Jesuit education. He attended St. Ignatius Grade School and Loyola Academy, and then graduated from Loyola University. In 1938, he came in second place for a scholarship for a master's degree program at Harvard University. He chose to stay in Chicago. During summer vacations, he worked as a lifeguard at Chicago's Touhy Avenue Beach along Lake Michigan. When World War II arrived, he joined the navy. He was a "90-day wonder" who received his expedited military training in 1941 at Abbott Hall at Northwestern University. He was commissioned as a lieutenant and became the navigator on the USS Granville, which served in the Pacific Theater of the war. He was in Japan only hours after VJ Day. He fell in love and married Rosemary Lane in 1949. To support heir five children, he initially worked as a sales representative for Frieden Corporation. He then purchased a Volkswagen dealership in 1964 in La Salle-Peru, Illinois and moved his family to nearby Spring Valley, Illinois. The Spoeri clan returned to Chicago and Rogers Park in 1975, and he worked as a real estate agent for Long Kogen. He sometimes wrote articles for the Northside Real Estate Magazine. He served on the Legislative Tax Committee for the Chicago Real Estate Board. Earlier, he had belonged to the Cosmopolitan Club, a social organization of professionals and businessmen. He enjoyed playing poker and telling stories. He especially liked words and word games. His favorite poem was Longfellow's "Psalm to Life," which he often recited in the morning, to the amusement and/or aggravation of his family. A committed sportsman, he taught his children all of the fundamentals of baseball and football. He played competitively at golf, tennis, handball and racquetball into his early seventies, often beating opponents younger than his children. In his later years, he developed an interest in creative writing and attended writing classes at Truman College on Chicago's Northside. He died a month before his seventy-fourth birthday in the spring of 1990. (July 2000)
He was born at home at 6701 N. Sheridan Road in Chicago, Illinois. His German-American father had been a small boy during the Chicago Fire and had been a successful businessman. His Irish Catholic mother, Mae Dempsey had grown up on a farm in Iowa. She moved to Chicago shortly after the turn of the century, and married William Spoeri, a widower. Bob was the youngest of his father's six children and his mother's three children. His half-brother Walter and his half-sister Gladys died as small children. His half-sister Katherine (Kay) was a classmate at Senn High School with Gloria Swanson. Bob's mother saw to it that he had sixteen years of Jesuit education. He attended St. Ignatius Grade School and Loyola Academy, and then graduated from Loyola University. In 1938, he came in second place for a scholarship for a master's degree program at Harvard University. He chose to stay in Chicago. During summer vacations, he worked as a lifeguard at Chicago's Touhy Avenue Beach along Lake Michigan.
When World War II arrived, he joined the navy. He was a "90-day wonder" who received his expedited military training in 1941 at Abbott Hall at Northwestern University. He was commissioned as a lieutenant and became the navigator on the USS Granville, which served in the Pacific Theater of the war. He was in Japan only hours after VJ Day. He fell in love and married Rosemary Lane in 1949. To support heir five children, he initially worked as a sales representative for Frieden Corporation. He then purchased a Volkswagen dealership in 1964 in La Salle-Peru, Illinois and moved his family to nearby Spring Valley, Illinois. The Spoeri clan returned to Chicago and Rogers Park in 1975, and he worked as a real estate agent for Long Kogen. He sometimes wrote articles for the Northside Real Estate Magazine. He served on the Legislative Tax Committee for the Chicago Real Estate Board. Earlier, he had belonged to the Cosmopolitan Club, a social organization of professionals and businessmen. He enjoyed playing poker and telling stories. He especially liked words and word games. His favorite poem was Longfellow's "Psalm to Life," which he often recited in the morning, to the amusement and/or aggravation of his family. A committed sportsman, he taught his children all of the fundamentals of baseball and football. He played competitively at golf, tennis, handball and racquetball into his early seventies, often beating opponents younger than his children. In his later years, he developed an interest in creative writing and attended writing classes at Truman College on Chicago's Northside. He died a month before his seventy-fourth birthday in the spring of 1990. (July 2000)
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1916 - 1990 (73 years)