Answering the door at Carmelita Spencer’s ranch house in Grangeville, at the end of a handsomely winding drive flanked by lines of tall poplars, is her administrative assistant, Pam Northcutt.

At 80, Spencer relies on Pam to drive her car and help manage her affairs, including an array of volunteer activities, the centerpiece of which is the Bicentennial Historical Museum in Grangeville. Spencer was a museum founder and still serves as its curator.

Over the years, Spencer has dedicated enormous energy to volunteerism, especially in Grangeville. Green eyes sparkling, she says, “Almost anything that needed to be done, I was glad to do it.” Her efforts extended to the hospital auxiliary, American Association of University Women, Grangeville Library, Syringa Hospital Board of Directors, public schools, Republican Party, and Idaho Community Foundation, among others.

Spencer has retired from some boards in recent years, but still gives generously to her “two pet things”: the museum, which is her passion, and the University of Idaho. In 1996, the university awarded her its Jim Lyle Award for long-term dedication and service to the UI. Aside from the museum, “I try to do more for the university than anything else,” she says. She is a current member of the UI Foundation.

UI Lessons growing up in Onaway

Spencer grew up in Onaway, Idaho, where her father ran a general store serving customers from the nearby company town, Potlatch. From the children of lumber mill workers she picked up scraps of Japanese, Greek, Italian, Swedish, and other languages. These she put to use when the parents who spoke little English came into the store: “They didn’t want anyone to wait on them except me because I could understand them,” she says.

Left: Carmelita Spencer curates an impressive collection of Nez Perce artifacts and other objects tied to Idaho County’s past.

Through eighth grade, she attended Onaway’s two-room school. “The people in that little town of Onaway all helped that school in one way or another,” says Spencer. “We just knew education was important.” Either her mother or father was always serving on the school board. Of the dozen students in her eightgrade class, only one didn’t go on to college.

Spencer “never doubted” she would go to college. After graduating from Potlatch High School she enrolled in the UI, set on becoming a pharmacist. Finding the UI had no pharmacy department, she went into home economics instead. She joined the Alpha Phi sorority.

In 1943, having received her B.S. degree in home economics, she moved to Grangeville to teach home economics, math, and general science. There she met and married John W. Spencer, cattle rancher and businessman, who shared her dedication to education. “He was on school boards from kingdom come,” says Spencer, including two terms on the Idaho State Board of Education. Each of their three children graduated from college. Two, Craig and Charles, graduated from the UI.

Spencer sees her role, then and now, as being “a good citizen in Grangeville.” She also became a collector of cultural and historical objects—Meissen china, cloisonné, southwest Indian pottery, and especially local Nez Perce artifacts and other items related to Idaho County’s culture and history.

Let’s build a museum in Grangeville

The museum got its start in 1976, during the nation’s bicentennial. Spencer pulled together 12 people and, as she recalls, made them a proposal, “Let’s form a group and build a museum.” They raised funds, invested them well, and in 1986 built the red brick, climate-controlled museum that now houses at least 500 Nez Perce artifacts, including beaded apparel and corn husk weavings, and other pieces related to Idaho County history.

A local group, the Bicentennial Horizons Committee, owns the museum and operates it with the help of community volunteers. With frugal management, “Gradually we’re building up an endowment,” she says.

On a bright day in March, Spencer is awaiting the arrival of new computers for her museum office and planning the coming summer’s programs. “It’s a lot of work, but I still do it, and love it,” she says.