Georgia Spooner

July 11, 1925 to June 4, 2013

"I believe the arts should be a part of everyone's life." This was the simply stated reason that Georgia Spooner gave to reporters in 1981 to explain why she worked from twelve to fourteen hours per day, seven days a week, as Chairman of the Guilds of the Orange County Music Center Inc.

As Vice President for Volunteer Activites of the Board of Directors and founder and Chairman of the Guilds, her dedication to the future $40 million 3,200 seat multi-pupose theatre complex was nothing short of inspirational... Ground breaking occured in December 1982 and resulted in county-wide enthusiasm as a direct result of Mrs. Spooner's unique three-tiered organizational structure of the Guilds.

Unlike traditional volunteer organizations, which operate with an executive board and semi-autonomous chapters or committees, the Guilds of Orange County Music Center Inc., is organized on a tri-level system. Mrs. Spooner's idea, modeled after the organizational structure of large corporations, was to divide the county into ten Guild areas, with local chapters within the Guilds limited to a membership of 100 in each chapter. In this system, sectional leadership from all parts of the county constitutes the Board of Directors of the Guilds.

Mrs. Spooner has been active in volunteer service in many parts of the world since 1952. Not one to sit back and let others do the work, she has been actively involved in every community in which she has lived.

Her career as a volunteer began in Frankfurt, Germany, where she organized distribution of three tons of food, clothing and toys to Berlin refugee camps in the 1950's. In Oslo, Norway, where she lived for three years, Mrs. Spooner organized a scholarship fund for a Norwegian graduate student to study in the United States in addition to supporting her husband, who was the Air Attache' in the U.S. Embassy in Norway. In Anchorage, Alaska, she founded and organized a program to bring a Community Concert Series into five elementary schools.

In 1970, Georgia and her husband, Lt. Col. Richard Henry Spooner, USAAF Ret., purchased a new home in Corona del Mar, California and Mrs. Spooner again became active in local volunteering, the Architectual Committee in her tract of homes, the Garden Club, The Orange County Performing Arts Center, and in 1983, 84 served on the Orange County Grand Jury.

Her husband, Dick, was a prominent Orange County Corporate Lawyer until his untimely death in 1981. She has no living relatives but will be greatly missed by all the friends she has made over the years.

A visitation will be held at 9:00 am on Friday, June 14, 2013 with the funeral service starting at 10:00 am at Pacific View Mortuary Chapel. A graveside service will immediately follow at Pacific View Memorial Park.