Francis Lester Sponar, 30 Aug 1937 - 15 Apr 2016

SPONAR, MCELROY, BAHNDORF, BAUMGARTNER

Posted By: Sandy Ficken (email)
Date: 5/11/2016 at 14:46:27

Francis Lester Sponar, age 78 of Amana, died Friday, April 15, 2016, at Marengo Memorial Hospital. Funeral Services: 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, April 19, 2016, at Meadow Hill Christian Fellowship, rural Homestead, Iowa, with Pastors Larry and Diane Buswell officiating. Burial will be in the East Amana Cemetery, Iowa. Visitation: 4 to 7 p.m., Monday, April 18, 2016, at Meadow Hill Christian Fellowship, rural Homestead, Iowa. A memorial fund has been established.

Francis is survived by his son Alan, of East Amana, many cousins and a very special friend Mary Baumgartner. He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Jean in 2008 and a son Kevin in 1985.

Francis Sponar was born August 30, 1937, in Iowa City, Iowa, the son of Lester and Wilma McElroy Sponar. He graduated from the Amana Schools in 1955. He married Jean Bahndorf on April 6, 1957 and made their home in East Amana. In 1969, he finished building their home in Amana and moved his family there.

He was a machinist and a vertical turret lathe operator at the Crane Factory in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Francis loved to listen to gospel and bluegrass music. He especially enjoyed going to coffee at the gas station with his friends in Amana, visiting friends and always bringing food with him, woodworking and driving around the country.

The Journal Tribune, 20 Apr 2016, pg 5
The Gazette, 17 Apr 2016, 13a [abbreviated]