BY TANYA BRICKING
The Cincinnati Enquirer

MASON - A 43-year-old Deerfield Township man shot his wife to death and then used the shotgun to kill himself early Monday in Mason, police said.

''We don't really know exactly what was going on,'' Mason Police Chief Arthur Scott said. ''They were very recently separated - probably within a few days.''

Police did not release names of the victims, but neighbors and co-workers confirmed that they were Pat Spaulding, 40, and her husband, Chuck.

When Mrs. Spaulding did not show up for work as director of health service at Community Concepts, a center for the mentally retarded in Mason, a fellow employee went to look for her.

He found her body at her sister's house in the 200 block of Kings Mills Road, less than a mile from The Golf Center at Kings Island. She had been shot once in the left side and once in the back of the head. Her husband was shot in the face. No one else was home at the time of the shootings, police said.

Mrs. Spaulding and her second husband raised two daughters and lived in Warren County, close to where she grew up. She was a nurse, and he worked at General Electric, friends said.

''She and her husband seemed to have a good relationship,'' said Greg Carson, administrator at Mason Health Care Center, where Mrs. Spaulding was director of nursing last year. Sometimes they'd come to cookouts at Mr. Carson's house and play volleyball.

Mrs. Spaulding left Mason Health Care in October and took the job at Community Concepts.

''It's very difficult,'' Community Concepts President Betty Davis said. ''She was a main part of the team that operated our facility, and everyone cared about her.''

Jeanette Teufel, who lives across the street from the red brick home where the shootings occurred, was stunned. She graduated from Mason High School with Mrs. Spaulding - then Pat McReynolds - in 1974 and worked for her at Mason Health Care Center.

''She was polite and pleasant,'' Mrs. Teufel said. ''She was very good at what she did.''