2025 SESSION

ENROLLED

HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 788

Celebrating the life of Spencer J. Prayer.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 19, 2025

WHEREAS, Spencer J. Prayer, a hardworking longshoreman and an active and beloved member of the Portsmouth community, died on November 18, 2024; and

WHEREAS, Spencer Prayer attended Norfolk County Public Schools in his youth and graduated from Crestwood High School in 1962; and

WHEREAS, Spencer Prayer began his professional career with Virginia Chemicals, Inc., and later became a longshoreman with the Hampton Roads Shipping Association-International Longshoremen's Association at the Port of Virginia, where he worked tirelessly until a significant injury required him to retire in 2000; and

WHEREAS, Spencer Prayer and his siblings created the United Independence Club, a popular social club for the Lincoln Park community of Hampton from the 1960s through the 1980s, where he served as in-house deejay while helping to raise money for local children's activities; and

WHEREAS, Spencer Prayer was an accomplished athlete who was inducted into the Tidewater Virginia Hall of Fame and excelled in the Black baseball league in the Gilmerton and Deep Creek areas of Portsmouth in adulthood; and

WHEREAS, Spencer Prayer was an active and engaged member of the Crestwood High School Class of 1962, maintaining a near perfect attendance record at the group's events over the years; and

WHEREAS, guided throughout his life by his faith, Spencer Prayer was a devoted member of Grove Church in Portsmouth, where he enjoyed worship and fellowship with his community; and

WHEREAS, preceded in death by his wife, Pearl, Spencer Prayer will be fondly remembered and dearly missed by his children, Darius and Catricia, and their families and by numerous other family members and friends; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the House of Delegates hereby note with great sadness the loss of Spencer J. Prayer, a treasured member of the Portsmouth community whose wisdom, kindness, and integrity inspired all who knew him; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Spencer J. Prayer as an expression of the House of Delegates' respect for his memory.