PARKERSBURG — Jeff Spencer is no stranger to serving his community.

As Funeral Director for Lambert-Tatman Funeral Home in Belpre, a large part of his life is comforting people through difficult times.

Spencer’s commitment to service has very deep roots. His family owned the Spencer Funeral Home in Belpre, which was founded in 1927 and remained a fixture in the area for nearly 70 years before joining Lambert-Tatman.

Although he is a native of the Mid-Ohio Valley, Spencer’s career as a licensed funeral director took him and his family away from the area for some time. When he and his wife Paula decided to move away, they were very particular about where they wanted to raise their sons, Daniel, then 12, and David, 7.

“We didn’t want to lose that hometown feel that we love,” Jeff said. “We knew we wanted to live in a town of fewer than 25,000 people.”

Their adopted hometown would be Wilmington, Ohio, where they would spend the next 20 years. After that, an opportunity at a funeral home in Richmond, Ind., meant the Spencer family would relocate there and remain for four years. But their love of Belpre and the Mid-Ohio Valley never stopped calling them home.

“We enjoyed our time in Richmond and Wilmington, but when the opportunity came to return to the Mid-Ohio Valley, we knew right away we were going to take it,” he said.

Spencer is thankful for his diverse experience and what it allows him to bring to the table as Funeral Director for Lambert-Tatman.

“We are truly a family here,” he said. “The closeness we share is very rare.”

Steve Tatman, a Lambert-Tatman Manager, describes Spencer as an asset to the Lambert-Tatman family.

“He is a genuinely compassionate and caring individual and we’re extremely thankful for him,” he said.

The Spencers are home for good, they said. They are members of the Belpre Heights United Methodist Church and love spending time with each other and their two granddaughters, Ella, 11, and Molly, 6. Life for the Spencers has come full circle, indeed.

Lambert-Tatman Funeral Homes & Crematory offers pre-need planning, at-need services, and crematory services with locations in Parkersburg and Vienna, West Virginia and Belpre, Ohio.