When Speicher was 15, his family moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where he attended Nathan Bedford Forrest High School. After graduating from high school, he then attended Florida State University. Speicher graduated from FSU in 1980 with a bachelor's degree in accounting and business management. While at Florida State University, he met Joanne, whom he eventually married, and they had two children. 18 months after Speicher went missing in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, friend and fellow USN pilot Buddy Harris married Joanne, and they had two more children.