I'm surprised no one has memories about Stu that they wanted to share because he was one outstanding man and I don't want to let that go unrecognized. So even though I didn't know Stu in high school really (he was soccer and I was football) we came to know each other very well after we had both partied ourselves out of college after 2 years and were living at home trying to regroup at local schools. We continued that party in Chicagoland in 1966 and had many great times together. Stu was an AllState soccer player I believe, and one of my favorite memories is being on Oak Street Beach with him on the concrete checking out the babes. Some Latino guys kicked a soccer ball in our direction and Stu got up to kick it back to them, But he shanked it badly right into Lake Michigan about 50 yards out into the water where they had to get a lifeguard to swim out and retrieve it. I never let him forget that moment.
So Stu married Carol, a wonderful very beautiful girl from Champaign, IL and they had a couple of kids, and me and my wife were close to them for a few too
short years. They got divorced, Stu remarried and moved to FL where we lost track of him and he passed from some rare disease quite awhile ago.
I was at a Wrigley Bleacher wedding last year for one of my friends and was drinking at a table with John Brooks who I had never met before, and it turned out that John was Gordy Sparks best man. Gordy was Stu's younger brother, and John had been at Stu's bachelor party that I was at, and we rolled him up in a rug at some point of innebriation. small world.
Please C'mon Mr. Roehm, Mr. Wong, and Mr. Schiller to share some Stu Sparks memories.
I had known Stu from 6th grade of Holmes school, through H.S.; played soccer, tried smoking tobacco with one summer, raced bikes in the forest preserves, went to Miss Polkat's Dancing school with him The good, the bad, the ugly and the funny with Stu. He loved and lived life to the fullest and could find an uncanny way to make the mundane into something remarkable. Lost track after H.S. as we moved in different directions, but will always remember him as a good friend, have your back kind of guy. All of which made the trauma years at O.P.R.F. a little less traumatic for me. Thanks Stu, bottoms up.
Okay, I'll add a few words. I'll take Stew back to babyhood....we lived across the street from each other and our parents were great friends. He was even at my 1 y/o birthday party. Stew and Rick Roehm were my bodyguards walking to/from Holmes school beginning in Kindergarten. We moved out to Hinsdale, though, in 2nd grade. By the time my family moved back to Oak Park we were Freshman at OPRFHS. The Sparks were living in River Forest then. I recall one year helping to build a Homecoming Float in their driveway there. I remember meeting Carol at what might have been an engagement dinner or something. We lost touch totally after that.
I remember seeing Stew's parents at my parents' cottage in MI after my father died (many of their friends drove up to pay their respects). For conversation's sake and just because it was the way it was with a lot of us young people, I asked his parents if he and Carol were still married and was told yes, of course. Not too long(?) after that my mother called and asked me if I had been talking to Stew. I told her No, which was the truth and asked why she had asked. She then informed me that Stew and Carol had split up. How ironic. That was the last I knew of him until I saw his name on the In Memory list. It was hard to believe he was gone. So sad. Wish we hadn't lost touch now. RIP Stewart D Spark.
I was really shocked to see that Stew had passed. I met him in 7th grade at Holmes School when I moved there from Hawthorne. He was my first "love" and we spent alot of time together in junior high. Then he left me for a younger chic . . a 7th grader . . what can I say? We had alot of fun together and I was sorry that we didn't spend any time together in high school . . paths that just went separate ways. I was just at Kris Dollinger Endfinger's house in Florida a few weeks ago and we were looking at her family photo albums which had many pictures of her and Stew when they were little. They lived across the street from each other in Oak Oark and were playmates. At 6 years old, he looked like Stew. I could pick him out of any picture he was in. It was very nostaglic as we both remembered him in our own ways since we knew him at different times, and both of us in disbelief that he's gone. I was looking forward to seeing him at the reunion and I'm sure he would have come. I have only very fond memories of him and our time at Holmes together and always will. Very sad.....
One of the highlights for me of the Canada trip during sophomore year was meeting Stu Sparks, for whom I had broken the heart of another classmate. This provided much fodder for hours of phone chat with Chip Braun, and my Canada room-mate Marti Starck--when I should have been doing my homework. It blossomed into a trip romance, and resulted in my proudly wearing Stu's little gold soccer ball on a chain. It was not one of those long-lasting HS romances. However, I have no memory of exactly when we broke up nor it having been a traumatic breakup; probably due to the aforementioned qualities so typical of Stu. As HS boyfriends go, I remember him as being sweet and very thoughtful. I did not see any of the post-HS party behavior mentioned here by his close buddies, which emerged later during his college years. We enjoyed seeing each other at what I believe was our 25th reunion, and I too was saddened by the news that he had died so young.
Stew was a great friend. I met Stew during the first day of soccer practice in our freshman year. Stew was cheerful and very outgoing. We became instant friends and started having fun together almost from day one. I especially remember our typical Saturday routine during the winters. We would play basketball or football; have lunch at Russell's; attend the high school football game; go home for dinner; get together again for a party. It does not get any better than that!!!
I think it was during our sophomore year, Stew and I decided we needed a little extra spending money so we took jobs together at Montgomery Wards. One day our boss told us to go into the stock room and organize the women's foundations (aka bras). I have to say that Stew REALLY got into his work. We had most of the bras sorted by brand and size when Stew found a box marked 36DDD. Of course he could not resist pulling it out of the box so we could get a better look. Like typical 16 year olds we closely examined it and then we started laughing like crazy. We debated about whether we should write a congratulatory note to the buyer. After all these years I don't remember if we did or did not. But if one of you, our classmate, did buy that foundation you may have found a note "inspected by Stew and Gene" and now you now know how it got there.
After our graduation, not too much changed. We continued to have a lot of fun and our friendship grew stronger. I was honored that Stew asked me to be one of his groomsmen when he married Carol.
Dani and I went to Tampa to visit Stew when he was having his medical problems. He said he was doing okay so we were greatly surprised and saddened when he passed away within the year. He left us way too soon and he is dearly missed.
John E. Smith
I'm surprised no one has memories about Stu that they wanted to share because he was one outstanding man and I don't want to let that go unrecognized. So even though I didn't know Stu in high school really (he was soccer and I was football) we came to know each other very well after we had both partied ourselves out of college after 2 years and were living at home trying to regroup at local schools. We continued that party in Chicagoland in 1966 and had many great times together. Stu was an AllState soccer player I believe, and one of my favorite memories is being on Oak Street Beach with him on the concrete checking out the babes. Some Latino guys kicked a soccer ball in our direction and Stu got up to kick it back to them, But he shanked it badly right into Lake Michigan about 50 yards out into the water where they had to get a lifeguard to swim out and retrieve it. I never let him forget that moment.
So Stu married Carol, a wonderful very beautiful girl from Champaign, IL and they had a couple of kids, and me and my wife were close to them for a few too
short years. They got divorced, Stu remarried and moved to FL where we lost track of him and he passed from some rare disease quite awhile ago.
I was at a Wrigley Bleacher wedding last year for one of my friends and was drinking at a table with John Brooks who I had never met before, and it turned out that John was Gordy Sparks best man. Gordy was Stu's younger brother, and John had been at Stu's bachelor party that I was at, and we rolled him up in a rug at some point of innebriation. small world.
Please C'mon Mr. Roehm, Mr. Wong, and Mr. Schiller to share some Stu Sparks memories.
Frank Blossom
I had known Stu from 6th grade of Holmes school, through H.S.; played soccer, tried smoking tobacco with one summer, raced bikes in the forest preserves, went to Miss Polkat's Dancing school with him The good, the bad, the ugly and the funny with Stu. He loved and lived life to the fullest and could find an uncanny way to make the mundane into something remarkable. Lost track after H.S. as we moved in different directions, but will always remember him as a good friend, have your back kind of guy. All of which made the trauma years at O.P.R.F. a little less traumatic for me. Thanks Stu, bottoms up.
Kristin Dollinger (Endfinger)
Okay, I'll add a few words. I'll take Stew back to babyhood....we lived across the street from each other and our parents were great friends. He was even at my 1 y/o birthday party. Stew and Rick Roehm were my bodyguards walking to/from Holmes school beginning in Kindergarten. We moved out to Hinsdale, though, in 2nd grade. By the time my family moved back to Oak Park we were Freshman at OPRFHS. The Sparks were living in River Forest then. I recall one year helping to build a Homecoming Float in their driveway there. I remember meeting Carol at what might have been an engagement dinner or something. We lost touch totally after that.
I remember seeing Stew's parents at my parents' cottage in MI after my father died (many of their friends drove up to pay their respects). For conversation's sake and just because it was the way it was with a lot of us young people, I asked his parents if he and Carol were still married and was told yes, of course. Not too long(?) after that my mother called and asked me if I had been talking to Stew. I told her No, which was the truth and asked why she had asked. She then informed me that Stew and Carol had split up. How ironic. That was the last I knew of him until I saw his name on the In Memory list. It was hard to believe he was gone. So sad. Wish we hadn't lost touch now. RIP Stewart D Spark.
Suzanne Shostrom (Venecek)
I was really shocked to see that Stew had passed. I met him in 7th grade at Holmes School when I moved there from Hawthorne. He was my first "love" and we spent alot of time together in junior high. Then he left me for a younger chic . . a 7th grader . . what can I say? We had alot of fun together and I was sorry that we didn't spend any time together in high school . . paths that just went separate ways. I was just at Kris Dollinger Endfinger's house in Florida a few weeks ago and we were looking at her family photo albums which had many pictures of her and Stew when they were little. They lived across the street from each other in Oak Oark and were playmates. At 6 years old, he looked like Stew. I could pick him out of any picture he was in. It was very nostaglic as we both remembered him in our own ways since we knew him at different times, and both of us in disbelief that he's gone. I was looking forward to seeing him at the reunion and I'm sure he would have come. I have only very fond memories of him and our time at Holmes together and always will. Very sad.....
Mary Anne Everson (Guerrero)
One of the highlights for me of the Canada trip during sophomore year was meeting Stu Sparks, for whom I had broken the heart of another classmate. This provided much fodder for hours of phone chat with Chip Braun, and my Canada room-mate Marti Starck--when I should have been doing my homework. It blossomed into a trip romance, and resulted in my proudly wearing Stu's little gold soccer ball on a chain. It was not one of those long-lasting HS romances. However, I have no memory of exactly when we broke up nor it having been a traumatic breakup; probably due to the aforementioned qualities so typical of Stu. As HS boyfriends go, I remember him as being sweet and very thoughtful. I did not see any of the post-HS party behavior mentioned here by his close buddies, which emerged later during his college years. We enjoyed seeing each other at what I believe was our 25th reunion, and I too was saddened by the news that he had died so young.
Gene Wong
Stew was a great friend. I met Stew during the first day of soccer practice in our freshman year. Stew was cheerful and very outgoing. We became instant friends and started having fun together almost from day one. I especially remember our typical Saturday routine during the winters. We would play basketball or football; have lunch at Russell's; attend the high school football game; go home for dinner; get together again for a party. It does not get any better than that!!!
I think it was during our sophomore year, Stew and I decided we needed a little extra spending money so we took jobs together at Montgomery Wards. One day our boss told us to go into the stock room and organize the women's foundations (aka bras). I have to say that Stew REALLY got into his work. We had most of the bras sorted by brand and size when Stew found a box marked 36DDD. Of course he could not resist pulling it out of the box so we could get a better look. Like typical 16 year olds we closely examined it and then we started laughing like crazy. We debated about whether we should write a congratulatory note to the buyer. After all these years I don't remember if we did or did not. But if one of you, our classmate, did buy that foundation you may have found a note "inspected by Stew and Gene" and now you now know how it got there.
After our graduation, not too much changed. We continued to have a lot of fun and our friendship grew stronger. I was honored that Stew asked me to be one of his groomsmen when he married Carol.
Dani and I went to Tampa to visit Stew when he was having his medical problems. He said he was doing okay so we were greatly surprised and saddened when he passed away within the year. He left us way too soon and he is dearly missed.