St. George / Pine Valley, Utah - One of Southern Utah's beloved native sons, Spencer J. Reber, passed away Friday evening, April 13, 2012. His wife Josephine was by his side with all six of his adult children, from the oldest to the youngest: Michael Spencer, Randy Thomas, Jeffrey Lynn, Abby Ann, Christopher Lloyd, and Larry Ernest. His dear friend and spiritual brother, Wenju, came all the way from China to be with the family. Spence and his wife enjoyed 65 wonderful years of marriage. They have traveled many places as a result of his extensive geology experience and he has taught and lectured in many forums. He was invited to teach graduate school in Changchun, China at Jilin University, the largest university in China. Everywhere he traveled he made many close friends that revere and remember him fondly to this day. He graduated from Dixie College and later from Brigham Young University in 1951 with a Masters Degree in Geology. He and Josephine were married in the St. George LDS Temple in May of 1946. He served in the U.S. Air Force in 1946. Spencer worked for Chevron Oil as their foremost exploratory geologist for over 37 years and taught their Southwest United States structural school for the last 20 years of his time at Chevron. He was Chevron's chief exploratory geologist in Alaska and spent many summers there helping locate oil and selecting drill sites. After his retirement in 1989, he moved back to Southern Utah and settled in St. George and Pine Valley. For several years he taught and conducted very popular field trips on Geology at Dixie College. He assisted the local communities, State of Utah, and many private individuals in their geologic and hydrological efforts to locate and drill water wells in the Southern Utah area. Spence and Jo served a mission in Switzerland for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Spencer loved the outdoors and built a beautiful cabin in Pine Valley, which he named Schangnau after the family's origins in Switzerland. He and his loving wife spent 9 months out of every year in Pine Valley where they were visited by their 6 children, 31 grandchildren and 52 great grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. at the Pine Valley LDS Branch Chapel, 50 West Main Street, Pine Valley, Utah. Visitations will be held Monday evening, from 5:00 p.m to 7:00 p.m. at Metcalf Mortuary, 288 West St. George Blvd., St. George, Utah and on Tuesday, prior to services, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Chapel. Interment will follow at the Pine Valley Cemetery. Arrangements entrusted to the care of Metcalf Mortuary, (435) 673-4221.