Death
In the fall of 1989, Spann learned that she had pancreatic cancer. The Spanns, both well into their 60s, were looking forward to retiring to their farmhouse and continuing their interest in motorcycles. The disease, as is common, was detected in its late stages when the only treatment is palliative care. Spann had been a smoker but had broken the habit in the years prior to her death. Like her two younger siblings who had died of the disease during the 1980s, she declined life-extending treatment.
On March 5, 1990, Spann, 63, died of the disease. She was survived by her husband Walter, Jimmy Carter, and her son, who has since died along with her grandson, Richard Andrew Spann (1984-2005). With the death of Spann's grandson, she has no living descendants. Gloria's parents and her sister, Ruth Stapleton, and brother, Billy Carter, had also died from pancreatic cancer. Gloria's tombstone reads, "She rides in Harley Heaven." Spann is buried in the Lebanon Church Cemetery near Plains, Georgia where her parents and brother, Billy Carter, are also buried.
Read more about this topic: Gloria Carter Spann
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