Published in the July 22 – Aug. 4, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Ron Woolf
Morgan Hill Fire Chief Brad Spencer
It has been my great pleasure to know and work with Brad Spencer as a community volunteer in Morgan Hill. The fire chief and local resident who founded our community’s Mushroom Mardi Gras died unexpectedly July 2.
Brad always had a great story to tell and he shared them often. He told me about working as a student custodian to help him financially through high school. Brad was in one of the first graduating classes at Saint Francis High School in Mountain View. Brad really enjoyed life and everyone around him. After Foothill Community College and other adventures, he became the fire chief in Morgan Hill in 1974. During Brad’s tenure for 20 years until 1994, Morgan Hill went through many changes in population, housing, business, and the addition of the El Toro Fire Station in 1975 and the Dunne Hill Fire Station in 1978.
With the 1978 passage of Proposition 13, however, finances became tight with local governments and city agencies such as fire companies. After attending the Dickens Christmas Fair in San Francisco, Brad met with his fellow firefighters and decided that having a community festival in Morgan Hill would be a great way to raise money for basic needs for the fire department. With the help of several local businessmen, we had the birth of the Morgan Hill Mushroom Mardi Gras in October 1980.
Many non-profits also benefited from the festival and almost $400,000 was raised in the first few years. Brad was instrumental in organizing the Mushroom Mardi Gras Board of Directors and a new direction for the funds from the festival was taking place. In addition to helping local non-profits, it was decided by the board to use most of the profits for scholarships for high school seniors. Brad led the charge and so began, with his leadership, a scholarship program that has rewarded nearly $1 million to deserving high school seniors. In addition, there is a mini-grant program for elementary and middle schools which has granted about $35,000. Also, many high school organizations, booster clubs, and grad night groups have raised thousands of dollars over the years.
Brad always enjoyed the festival weekend, expecting that the music must start on time with very little sound check testing by the bands. At the most recent festival I noticed Brad on the dance floor making sure that everyone was having a great time.
Since my active involvement over the past 26 years, I found out what a tremendous amount of time and effort Brad contributed to the festival. In addition to being president of the board several times, Brad worked with many others almost year-round at planning meetings. And he was always available the two weeks before the festival. You could find Brad chalking the streets and parking lots for vendor spaces with the crew that helped out every year. He was available to make sure that the on-site office and all the important details fell into place while always displaying his great sense of humor and wit.
Brad had more stories about the history of Morgan Hill and the festival than you could imagine. Having spent many years as scholarship chair for the festival, I worked with Brad and at least seven or eight other members of the Mardi Gras to select our high school student finalists. This is a long process that involves about 28 total hours of all members of the committee. The finalists were then interviewed by Brad, myself, and recently Bob Benevento. When I introduced Brad as the Founding Father of the Mushroom Mardi Gras to the individual students, you could see their faces light up like they were meeting a superhero. Brad loved the interviews. He had his favorite questions such as: “What did you do for community and school service?” or “What do you know about the Mushroom Mardi Gras.”
But Brad’s favorite question was: “If you had one hour to meet with anyone from the past or present, who would you choose and what would you talk about?”
I keep hearing that question from Brad, and I know that today if I had a final hour with him, I would say thanks for all that he did for the community of Morgan Hill, his family, the students, and the festival. Thank you Brad Spencer for being the “Founding Father of the Mushroom Mardi Gras.” Thanks also to the Spencer family — Brad’s wife Rene and children Devin and Brynne — for allowing your dad to be shared by the citizens of Morgan Hill.
Thank you Brad. You will be sorely missed.
Ron Woolf is on the board of directors of the Morgan Hill Mushroom Mardi Gras. He wrote this column for Morgan Hill Life.
