Louis Spencer Jr., a Vicksburg-native, World War II veteran and founding member of the popular Red Tops Band is being remembered as a religious family man and tireless worker following his death Friday. He would have celebrated his 89th birthday Sunday.

“He was a very independent thinker, an independent worker and he always said, ‘family and work.’ Those were his mainstays,” said one of his five daughters, Dr. Gwendolyn Prater. “He was a wonderful man and a wonderful father.”

Born and educated in Vicksburg, Spencer returned home following his service in the U.S. Navy in 1945 and 1946 and resumed working at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In 1953 he helped form the Red Tops as a 10-member blues, jazz and pop group. He was a saxophonist for the all-black group that played for racially mixed audiences in the years of Jim Crow laws and strict segregation. The group played at dances, colleges and clubs locally and throughout Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama through the early 1970s.

“They had a ball, and he loved it,” Prater said of her father’s 20 years with the group. “Along with being a hard worker, he also loved to have fun. He liked to party and to dance — and he was a very good dancer.”

Spencer’s death leaves only two surviving original Red Tops ­— Rufus McKay and Jimmie Bosley.

Spencer was on hand in March 2008 for the unveiling of a Mississippi Blues Trail marker honoring the Red Tops — the first blues trail marker placed in Vicksburg. As described on the Mississippi Blues Trail website, the Red Tops “were the top band in Mississippi during an era when nightlife centered on the dance floor.”

The Red Tops primarily played on weekends, and Prater said her father would work multiple jobs during the week to support his family. He retired in 1979 after 37 years as chief messenger for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, but remained active long afterward. He also worked at the Saenger Theatre, operated Gladys’ Grocery Store, owned a janitorial service and managed rental properties.

“He always said, ‘God bless the child that has his own,’” Prater remembered. “He worked very hard and very smart his entire life, and was always a very active and busy man.”

As late as September, Spencer was pushing to reopen Anderson’s Cafe, which he had owned for more than 30 years when it closed in late 2008. His bid to reopen the last of Vicksburg’s neighborhood clubs, however, was denied by the Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen due to changes in zoning ordinances.

Despite his active lifestyle and busy schedule, Prater said her father always made time for his family.

“He used to always take us children for rides down highway 61 for ice cream on Sundays, and he would also bring his mother on those rides when she was still alive,” she said.

Religion, too, remained important to Spencer, his daughter said. He was a member of Mount Heroden Baptist Church from the time he was a child, and was often heard quoting scripture.

Spencer died in Madison, where he had been staying with Prater for about the past seven months due to illness. He leaves behind his wife, Willie May “Trudy” Phelps Spencer, four daughters, 14 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and 18 great-great-grandchildren. He was an only child to the late Louis and Clara Spencer, and was also preceded in death by a daughter, two grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

W.H. Jefferson Funeral Home has charge of arrangements.