Juanita J. Spencer; Retired Cooking Teacher

Juanita Jewett Spencer, a retired culinary teacher, died Monday at a nursing home in Thousand Oaks. She was 86.

She was born April 26, 1914, in Elgin, Texas. When she was a few months old, her family moved to Whittier, where she grew up and went to school. Later, she graduated from Whittier High School.

She married Ed Ervin and they had one son, Ray. Soon after Ray’s birth, her husband died and she began working at the famous Brown Derby restaurant as a waitress.

Her son said Spencer organized, set up and trained cafeteria workers at Loyola Marymount University and the Budweiser plant in Van Nuys.

She married Del Spencer when Ray was about 12 and they lived in Reseda. Later, she and Del moved to Lompoc, where she taught cooking at Lompoc High School.

After she retired from teaching, she moved to Thousand Oaks about 12 years ago.

She loved to cook, her son said.

In addition to her son, of Thousand Oaks, she is survived by her brothers Ken and Gene Jewett, who live in the Bakersfield area; three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 47 years, Del.

Funeral services are scheduled at 11 a.m. today at Pierce Bros. Valley Oaks Mortuary Chapel in Westlake Village. Burial services will follow at Valley Oaks Cemetery.