By Mark LaFlamme,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Carlton “Bill” Spencer knew he was dying. So in November, he began to put his affairs in order in the most personal way he could.

He gathered with a hundred or so bikers for a feast at Warden’s Bar and Grill in Lewiston. For hours, he was the focus of attention from his lifelong friends: fellow members of the Hells Angels.

Spencer died this week of lung cancer. He was 63.

“He was just an awesome guy,” said Jen Gagne, owner of Warden’s and a longtime friend of Spencer. “He did a lot for other people and they wanted to do for him. He was just a nice, nice guy.”

Spencer, a husband and father of son and daughter, had been riding for 40 years. In 1992, he became a member of the Saracens in Turner.

After years of membership with that biker group, Spencer and other Saracens left to join what would become the first charter of the Hells Angels of Maine, according to his obituary.

In the obituary, prepared by another club member, Spencer was described as a quiet man who began his riding lifestyle in the 1960s in California.

“He was a man of character and substance, and true to his word,” the obituary states.

Friends said Spencer was a founding member, along with nine others from Lewiston and Auburn, of the first organized motorcycle club in Maine – The Kosaks MC.

In November, after he was diagnosed with third-stage lung cancer, Spencer was invited to Warden’s on Sabattus Street. There, he was greeted by dozens of bikers from various groups, who donated toward his medical bills and celebrated the career biker’s life.

The Hells Angels, along with Spencer’s family, are planning a funeral and a procession to pay tribute to Spencer on Saturday.

“It’s a hard thing,” Gagne said. “We knew it was coming, but it’s really sad.”

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