VOORHEESVILLE — A man who had no family found one after death.

Roger Spencer, who was well known in Voorheesville as the cowboy at the village laundry, died at the Guilderland Center nursing home on Feb. 19 at age 65. His parents had died when he was young and, although he couldn’t read or write, he managed on his own with the help of a community who saw him as an icon.

Spencer treasured his sheriff’s badge and took it upon himself to watch out for neighbors and caution bullies from his front-porch seat on Main Street.

About thirty people, including two sheriff’s deputies, gathered on Wednesday, Feb. 25, at the Maginn & Keegan Funeral Home, according to Spencer’s longtime friend, Becky Letko. “The funeral parlor had a note from the nurses at the home saying he wanted to be buried like a real cowboy, with boots and his hat on,” she said.  He was.

“He looked like himself,” said Letko. “I knew there wasn’t enough in his account to cover everything.”

The day held a large surprise, though. Everyone who knew Spencer locally believed he had no blood relatives.  At the funeral home Wednesday morning, however, the mourners were told a first cousin, James Spencer, had called that day and knew of a gravesite, with a headstone, for Roger Spencer.

“We all gasped,” said Letko. “He’s got a cousin? Where did he come from?”

She has since talked to James Spencer at length and learned he was his family’s historian. Letko tells the unfolding tale this way.

James Spencer’s father, Milton Spencer, a career military man, and Roger Spencer’s father were brothers. Milton Spencer traveled with his family throughout Europe, finally settling in Nebraska. After the death of Roger Spencer’s father, the families lost touch.

James Spencer only recently settled in the area, and visited the grave of Roger’s mother, Evelyn, his favorite aunt, buried in Schenectady Memorial Park. There, beside Evelyn Spencer’s grave, he saw a headstone for her son, with the birth date engraved, but no death date. He assumed Roger Spencer must be buried there.

“Your online obituary [posted Feb. 22] traveled the Internet and caused a printing that would otherwise have not happened,” Letko told The Enterprise. She reported of James Spencer, “When he saw the obituary, his curiosity was piqued and he contacted the funeral home the day Roger was to be buried elsewhere.

“They had already started digging his grave when this cousin came out of nowhere,” said Letko. “We thought, that’s wonderful; he’ll be with family in a marked grave.”

The memorial service in Voorheesville, at the Reilly & Son Funeral Home, proceeded as planned on Saturday with an added edge of excitement as people shared the news of Spencer’s newfound family. About 100 people came out, said Letko, including members of the New Salem Volunteer Fire Department, in full dress uniform. Spencer had been made an honorary member of the department.

The Enterprise article on Spencer and drawing, by Carol Coogan, she said “brought out so many of Roger’s friends and people who didn’t now him told me they wished they had.”

“There was a whole line of people looking after him,” said Letko. “People shared similar stories of Roger’s generosity.” Many people contributed, she said, “so that Roger could live life his way. This community has much to be proud of.”

On Tuesday, March 3, Roger Spencer was buried in a grave beside his mother’s.  Pastor Holly Cameron presided in a graveside service for a handful of mourners.

“He had a steel blue casket that matched his eyes,” said Letko. “He rests near a beautiful white birch that stands out from all of the other trees in the park...He is where he belongs.”