JOSEPH ALEXANDER SPARLING

JOSEPH ALEXANDER SPARLING, SON OF HENRY W. AND JOANNA SPARLING, WAS BORN JULY 9, 1875, ON A FARM NORTH OF GARDEN GROVE, IOWA, AND DEPARTED THIS LIFE AT THE OLD FAMILY HOME IN GARDEN GROVE FEBRUARY 22, 1924, AGED FORTHY-EIGHT YEARS, SEVEN MONTHS AND THIRTEEN DAYS. ON DECEMBER 27, 1916, HE WAS UNITED IN HOLY MATRIMONY TO MISS MAY CONNER. TO THIS UNION ONE CHILD, LYNN WESLEY, WAS BORN. FOR THREE YEARS AFTER THEIR MARRIAGE MR. AND MRS. SPARLING LIVED IN GARDEN GROVE AND ASSISTED IN THE CARE OF HIS AGED PARENTS. IN  1919 MR. SPARLING PURCHASED A FARM SOUTH OF MOUNT AYR AND MOVED THERE IN DECEMBER OF THE SAME YEAR. IN THE FOLLOWING FEBRUARY MR. SPARLING SUFFERED A SECOND ATTACK OF THE INFLUENZA. FROM THIS SICKNESS EMERGED WITH BADLY SHATTERED HEALTH. HE MANAGED TO CARRY ON HOWEVER, UNTIL THE FALL OF 1922, WHEN HE SUFFERED A STROKE OF PARALYSIS. AFTER MONTHS OF WEAKNESS HE RECOVERED SUFFICIENTLY TO REAMIN ON THE FARM AND DO A PART OF THE WORK UNTIL LAST SEPTEMBER WHEN THE FAMILY MOVED TO MOUNT AYR. THE CHANGE DID NOT SEEM TO HELP MUCH AND ON FEBRUARY 13, THEY CAME TO STAY AT THE OLD HOME IN GARDEN GROVE. THE MOVE HERE SEEMED TO PUT NEW HOPE AND ELATION IN MR. SPARLING AND JUST A FEW DAYS BEFORE HIS DEATH HE REMARKED THAT HE THOUGHT HE WOULD GET WELL ENOUGH TO WORK BY SPRING. BUT THE END CAME SUDDENLY AND PEACEFULLY VERY EARLY ON THE MORNING OF THE 22ND. A STRANGE CO-INCIDENCE IS SEEN IN THE FACT THAT HIS OLDEST SISTER, MRS. MILLIE SCHOTT, OF AMHERST, OHIO DIED JUST A FEW HOURS BEFORE HER BROTHER AND TODAY SERVICES FOR HER BURIAL ARE BEING CONDUCTED AT THE SAME HOUR THAT WE ARE ASSEMBLED HERE. THE DECEASED IS SURVIVED BY HIS LOVING, SORROWING WIFE AND LITTLE SON, LYNN WESLEY, TWO SISTERS, MRS. CLARA GARDNER, OF SULPHUR, S.D., AND MRS.  EVA LIGHT, OF GARDEN GROVE, IOWA. HE IS ALSO SURVIVED BY AN UNCLE, JOSEPH TRULLINGER, OF HUMESTON, IOWA. BESIDED THESE NEAR RELATIVES HE HAS MANY OTHER MORE DISTANT RELATIVES AND A HOST OF OLD TIME FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS WHO MOURN HIS UNTIMELY DEATH. AS ONE WHO HAS KNOWN OUR DEPARTED BROTHER RATHER INTIMATELY FOR THE PAST SEVEN YEARS WE WISH TO RECORD THAT WE ESTEEMED HIM HIGHLY AS A FRIEND AND WE CONSIDERED HIM A FAITHFUL AND PATIENT SON, A LOVING AND  CONSIDERATE HUSBAND AND A GOOD OBLIGING NEIGHBOR. THE WORLD IS THEREFORE POORER BY HIS PASSING. THE FUNERL SERVICES WERE HELD AT THE HOME OF MR. AND MRS. C.H. LIGHT ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON, CONDUCTED BY REV. G.W. HALL, A FORMER PASTOR  HERE, WHO WAS ASSISTED BY REV. YOUNG, PASTOR OF THE M.E. CHURCH. THE INTERMENT WAS MADE IN THE GARDEN GROVE CEMETERY.