L. Celeste Sparks

SPARKS

Posted By: Linda Sparks Taylor (email)
Date: 8/9/2003 at 23:42:26

Loye Celeste Moulds Sparks, age 77, passed away in Scottsdale, Arizona on July 31, 2003 after a difficult struggle with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). Celeste was born July 29, 1926 in La Grande, Oregon. She lived in many communities in Oregon until 1936 when her family moved to Algona, Iowa. After graduating from Algona High School in 1944, Celeste married Darrell Sparks. They lived in St. Cloud, Florida , where their first son, David, was born. In 1946 they returned to live in Hobarton (rural Algona) where their two daughters, Linda and Janelle, were born, after which Celeste began a long career as a secretary, first with Kossuth County, then other employers in Iowa, and finishing as an executive secretary with Gates Lear Jet and Allied Signal in Tucson, Arizona

In 1959, the family moved to Forest City, Iowa where their second son, Dale, was born and the older three children completed high school. In 1973, Celeste, Darrell, and Dale moved to Tucson, Arizona. Darrell's sudden death in 1980 began a difficult period for Celeste but her strong spirit and ability to keep going day-to-day triumphed over that loss and other difficulties along the way. In 2001 she moved to Scottsdale, Arizona where a few months later she was diagnosed with ALS.

Celeste is loving remembered by her family and friends for her humor, her care for others, her strong principles, her love for small town Iowa, western Oregon, and the Catalina Mountains in Tucson, her enthusiasm for big band, swing, and Latin music, her attention to details, and her fascination with exotic places and cultures. She is survived by son David Sparks and grandchildren Sebastian Sparrowhawk and Naomi Sparrowhawk of Kilauea, Hawaii; daughter Linda and Greg Taylor and granddaughter Miriam Taylor of Minneapolis, Minnesota and grandson Ezra and Johanna Taylor of Columbus, Ohio; daughter Janelle Sparks and granddaughter Katherine Sparks of Tucson, Arizona and granddaughter Jessica and Dan Birchfield of Lubbock, Texas; and son Dale and Wendy Sparks of Scottsdale, Arizona; brother James and Pansy Moulds of Keaau, Hawaii; and many brothers and sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.