Donald Macklem Spies

Donald Macklem “Tinner” Spies, 85, died on Wednesday, December 9, 2009 at Easton Memorial Hospital, due to complications related to recovery from injuries sustained in an auto accident and heart surgery several weeks ago. Born May 4, 1924, to Henry Alfred and Mary Macklem Spies, he graduated from Cordova High School in 1940. He was a 3rd generation farmer and an active member of both the state and local agriculture community. Tinner Spies was many things to many people. His community offices and involvements are too numerous to list entirely and not as important as the effect he had on the people who knew and loved him. He was a gregarious man who loved to laugh and genuinely loved to talk to people. He touched the lives of an enormous number of people including kids (now adults) he taught in Sunday School and 4-H, basketball players he refereed, hunting partners, jousters and horseback riding companions, former tomato growers, parishioners at St Paul’s Lutheran Church, and members of the Tri-County Ruritan, the Talbot Fair Board, and Maryland Farm Bureau. He was the founder of the Talbot Ag Center, past president of the Talbot County Farm Bureau, past president of Tri-County Ruritan, former board member of the Southern States Cooperative, and “Tomato King of the Eastern Shore”. His legacy will live on in the people he met and the contributions he made to these organizations. He is survived by his wife Ann, brothers Jim and William, sisters Nancy Cummins, Jane Ewing, and Maryanne Todd, son Donald and wife Karen, son Taylor and wife Margot, daughter Nancy and Wayne Sailers, grandchildren Pam Knopp, Taylor, Paul, Alex, Corey, and Jason, great-grandchildren Madison, Maddison, Mackenzie, Xavier, and Georgia. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his brother Henry, sister Sarah, and son Paul. Friends may call at Fellows, Helfenbein & Newnam Funeral Home, P.A. in Easton on Sunday, December 13, 2009 from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. Services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, December 14, 2009 at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Cordova, MD. Burial will be at Spring Hill Cemetery in Easton. Memorial donations may be made to the Talbot Agricultural Center’s Building Fund, PO Box 812, Easton, MD 21601. For online tributes, please visit www.fhnfuneralhome.com.

Donald Macklem Spies

May 4, 1924 - December 9, 2009