Irene Spencer

Irene Spencer was born Irene Kunz in 1937. She was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her mother was the second wife of Maurice Q. Kunz. His first wife was the sister of Irene's mother. Over the years Irene's father was married four times. Because Irene's family was so big and her father did not make much money the Kunz family lived in poverty. Eventually three of Maurice's four wives left him, including Irene's mother. Several months after Irene's mother left her father her father convinced her mother to come back to him. This reconciliation only lasted long enough for Irene's mother to get pregnant for the sixth time. After this Irene's mother and her siblings moved to another part of Utah. When Irene was a teenager she spent her summers working at a farm. One year she came back to her mothers house to find a neighbor sitting on the kitchen table. That summer her mother found out she had cancer and wanted somebody to be there for her children, so she married the neighbor. The downside to this was Irene's step-father was a bully. Once when he came upon his wife rocking her sick daughter he threw his step-daughter across the room screaming at her that her mother was his woman. After this Irene went to live with her Aunt who had also been married to her father. Shortly after she met Verlan Lebaron who eventually married her half-sister/cousin Charlotte. When she met him Irene had a premonition that she would marry him. During this time however she was also involved with her step-fathers nephew and was torn wither to marry for love or do her duty to her religion and be the second wife of a man she hardly knew. Irene eventually married Verlan Lebaron in a secret ceremony in 1953. The only people present were her, Verlan, Charlotte and the man who married them. After the marriage Irene went back to her Aunts house, but several weeks later she went to live with Charlotte and Verlan in Calonia Lebaron Mexico. At first Verlan told Irene to keep the fact that she was his second wife a secret because his brothers Ervil and Alma were married to Catholic women who would not understand. Unfortunately this also meant that Ervil tried to claim that he was to be married to her. Over the next twenty five Irene gave birth to thirteen children and adopted one more child. During this time Verlan married eight more times and eventually had 58 children all together. During this time Irene and the rest of her "sister wives" moved around constantly to different places in Mexico, the United States and Nicaragua. Also during this time she dealt with Ervil who decided he and not his brother Joel was the real prophet and killed Joel Irene's Uncle, tried to murder Verlan, and also had his daughter and many others murdered. After over 25 years of marriage Irene left Mexico and Verlan and went to live in the U.S. Shortly after-wards though she went to a psychic who told her that she would go back to Mexico for a year because there was a man who needed her to teach him something. Irene went back to Verlan and exactly a year to the day she went back Verlan died in a car crash outside of Mexico City. Irene moved back to the U.S. and several years afterward married Hector Spencer who had also been involved with polygamy. To date Irene has 14 children, and about 141 grandchildren.