2022 Winner: Hope City Church 2019 Winner: Snap-On Tools Award biography: Roy A. Spencer 1880-1956  Roy A. Spencer was born in 1880 on the family farm outside of Racine. He was the oldest of seven children, born to Mr. And Mrs. William Spencer. After an ill-fated attempt at pioneering in North Dakota, the family returned to Racine in 1893 without their father, who had died from the long hours of hard work.  Life in Racine for this family with meager savings and no income forced Spencer to leave seventh grade and go to work. His first job was a paper boy for the old Racine Journal. During his 10 years at the paper, Spencer worked his way up and gained a reputation as a skilled pressman. In 1907 his boyhood friend, E. H. Wadewitz offered Spencer the opportunity that shaped the young pressman’s destiny. Wadewitz, an enterprising bookkeeper, had bought a small print shop, West Side Printing Co., and called on Spencer to handle the technical operations. By 1909 the name was changed to Western Printing and Lithographing Co. and Spencer became president, a position he held until his retirement in 1935. By then, Western had become a multi-million dollar commercial printer and publisher.  Two years after his retirement, Spencer’s health improved, and he began taking an active interest again in community affairs.  A group of his friends and backers urged him to run for mayor. Reluctantly, he did and was elected in April, 1937. Soon thereafter he found himself in the role of mediator in labor disputes. Spencer used his office to launch an effective move for harmony between labor and management, reuniting Racine’s factions jolted by a series of disagreements. Today’s annual 4th of July celebration is a direct result of Spencer’s early goodwill efforts.  Spencer believed that the 1937 Goodwill celebration would be a onetime event. He was surprised and pleased when it became the tradition that it is. In 1961, the board of directors of Goodwill, Inc. created the Roy A. Spencer Float Award in his honor.