Jan Spencer

Jan Stephens Spencer Staker passed away peacefully in Alpine, Utah on the morning of February 10th, 2024. She was born on September 8th, 1950 in Mesa, Arizona to Eldine Bingham and Eugene Clarence Stephens. Jan’s parents were in the hotel business and owned the Redwood Lodge in Farmington, New Mexico where Jan was involved in the family business from a young age and remembers answering the switchboard when she was 7. At an early age Jan’s mother could see that Jan had a remarkable intelligence and took Jan to Cal State to have her IQ tested when she was 17. She scored an IQ of 172 on the Stanford Binet test and qualified for Mensa International. In high school, Jan also had the opportunity to be an exchange student in the Netherlands for a semester and then hosted a German exchange student for one year in Buena Park, California. She remained in close contact with her “German Sister,” Marion Schmidt Schunck until the final days of her life.

Jan graduated from Buena Park High School in Pasadena, California in 1968 and then attended Brigham Young University where she majored in psychology. It was at BYU where she met David Eugene Spencer. They married on May 29th,1969 in the Los Angeles temple. A year later, their first son Eliott was born in Provo, Utah. Two years later, their second son Weston was born in Bryan, Texas while David completed a PhD in Economics at Texas A&M. After several moves for teaching opportunities, they eventually settled in Provo, Utah where Dave was a professor at BYU. Jan's marriage to Dave ended in 1999 but they remained friends throughout her life.

Jan was an active, creative, clever and fun mom to her two sons and a best friend to each of her grandchildren. Among her many traits and talents she passed on to her sons and grandchildren were her abilities to sew and crochet and her taste in music with a collection that belied her age. Her love for motherhood was only superseded by her love for grand motherhood. Jan had a lot of energy and loved to exercise. She was an aerobics instructor, teaching the high intensity class as many as four times a day, and loved to walk (some might have spotted her speed walking through the neighborhoods of Oak Hills with hand weights). 

Jan had many skills and talents which led to a variety of employment over the years. When Jan had a young family, she provided respite care to children and adults with severe disabilities, often involving her sons in the caretaking of these individuals. These experiences gave her the skills to work as a teacher’s aide at the special education Oakridge Elementary School in Provo. Jan also worked as a paralegal in Belmont, Massachusetts and a secretary at the Bean Museum at BYU. When Jan’s PhD son, Eliott, needed help with his stem cell company, Jan worked side-by-side with him for several years to help bring success to the manufacturing process. Later in her adult life Jan worked in admissions for Intermountain Healthcare at Alta View, Cottonwood and LDS Hospitals. 

It was while she was working at Alta View Hospital that Jan met Donald Staker. They were married on February 22, 2008 and lived for 14 years in Sandy until Don passed away in August of 2022. Don was an adoring husband and went out of his way to let everyone know how much he loved Jan. Jan said that Don was a “sweetheart” and was always so “good to her.”  

Jan was active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and held many callings. Her favorite callings were nursery leader and Cub Scout Den Mother.

Jan is survived by her two sons, Eliott (Carlee) and Weston (Emily), her grandchildren - September, Adeline, Isaac, Jack, Catherine, Sarah Jane and Chase, several cousins, Don Staker’s 7 children and his 29 grandchildren. 

Jan’s memorial services will be held on Thursday, February 15th, 2024 at Anderson & Sons Mortuary located at 6141 W. 11000 N. in Highland, Utah. The viewing will be held at 9:30 am and the funeral will be held at 11:00 am followed by a burial service at American Fork Cemetery where Jan will be buried next to her mother Eldine.