SPARKS, William "Butch" Thomas 1949 - 2000

SPARKS, BROWN, LOUDON, OLSON, JACKSON, FOSTER

Posted By: Pat Ludeke (email)
Date: 1/28/2014 at 10:08:08

WILLIAM “BUTCH” THOMAS SPARKS

CLEAR LAKE - William "Butch” Thomas Sparks 50, of 2111 1st Ave. S., Clear Lake, died Thursday (March 23, 2000) at his home following a courageous battle with cancer.

Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. on Monday, March 27, at the Ward-Van Slyke Colonial Chapel, 101 N. Fourth St. in Clear Lake, with Rev. Gary Johnson, Chaplain at Muse Norris Hospice Inpatient Unit of Mason City, officiating. Interment will be in the Clear Lake Cemetery.

Visitation will be from 3 to 7 p.m. Sunday at the Ward-Van Slyke Colonial Chapel and after 9 a.m. until time of services on Monday. Family suggests memorials be given to the William Thomas Sparks Memorial Fund.

Butch was born on Sept. 14, 1949, at the Boone County Hospital in Boone, the son of William and Betty (Brown) Sparks. He grew up in Ogden, Iowa, where he graduated from high school in 1968. While growing up he enjoyed playing football, hunting, fishing, and working on cars. During the summers of high school he began working at Northern Natural Gas in Ogden, where after graduating he worked full-time. Through the years, his leisure time included gardening, fishing, being a collector of many things, taking trips to Las Vegas, his continued love of cars, and reading Stephen King books; but his greatest pleasure came from being with friends and his family at their home.

On Dec. 27, 1969 he and Marilyn Loudon were married in Ogden, Iowa. Butch continued working for Northern Natural Gas in Ogden until September of 1970 when he, Marilyn, and infant son Todd moved to Clear Lake and he began work at Northern's Ventura Plant. This move was the beginning of 29 years employed at the Ventura Plant, making Clear Lake his family's home and where his sons Todd and Cory grew up, and the place where many close friendships were made.

Butch will be missed forever and never forgotten in the hearts of his wife Marilyn Sparks, Clear Lake; two sons, Todd Sparks and his wife, Stacy, of Hopkins, Minn. and Cory Sparks, of Clear Lake; his grandson Noah; three sisters, Sue Olson and her husband, David and family, of Danbury, Wis., Kathy Jackson and her husband, Paul and family, of Boone and Karen Foster and her husband Terry and family, of Lucas, Iowa; his father-in-law, Wally Loudon and his wife, Jackie, of Boone.

He was preceded in death by his parents, infant brother, mother-in-law, Gladys Loudon and maternal and paternal grandparents.