Marva Louis Spaulding, 85, the one-time stenographer and big band singer who was twice married to boxer Joe Louis and later raised funds for the United Negro College Fund and other causes, died Tuesday, Nov. 28, in her Bronzeville home, of complications related to Alzheimer's disease.

"She was very personable, very glamorous, very civic-minded and out to help," said Cannie Middleton, a niece.

The former Marva Trotter was born in Boley, Okla., grew up in Chicago and graduated from Englewood High School in 1933.

She then studied stenography in one of the few schools that would accept African-American students at the time.

But while working as a stenographer, she met and married Joe Louis in 1934.

A stylish woman throughout her life, Mrs. Spaulding soon became almost as recognizable as her famous husband. As a singer, she performed around the country, including appearances with top bandleaders such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Kay Kyster in the early and mid-1940s, though she never pursued a career as a vocalist afterward.

She and Louis had two children when they divorced in 1945. They remarried the next year, but divorced again in 1949.

In 1950, she married Dr. Albert Lee Spaulding, a South Side physician and early organizer of African-American sports associations. The two had known each other for several years before their romance blossomed.

During their marriage, Mrs. Spaulding volunteered for and led national and community causes, particularly the United Negro College Fund She served as president of the fund's Chicago women's division in 1969. She earlier had been vice chairman of the South Side Committee for the March of Dimes in the late 1940s.

She frequently opened her South Shore home to disadvantaged children who, according to a 1969 article in the Tribune, "seem to gravitate to Mrs. Spaulding."

"It can happen, and it often does, that the youngster who drops by to play or to ask assistance with a lesson remains for the weekend," the article stated. "Or the visit even may lengthen into a month or two."

She was an adept seamstress who designed her own clothes and home decorations. Her youngest daughter, Marva Spaulding, was killed in 1972. Mrs. Spaulding's second husband died in 1992.

In addition to her niece, she is survived by a daughter, Jacquelynn Barrow; a son, Joe Louis Barrow Jr.; and a sister, Jonnie Poree.

A service was held Monday in Chicago.

Marva L Spaulding