JESSE BERNARD SPARKS
JESSE SPARKS OF MINERAL POINT, MISSOURI, WAS BORN DECEMBER 2, 1915, IN MINERAL POINT, MISSOURI, A SON OF THE LATE JESSE L. AND GOLDIE MARY (LORE) SPARKS. JESSE DEPARTED THIS LIFE AT HIS RESIDENCE ON MARCH 2, 1999, HAVING REACHED THE AGE OF EIGHTY-THREE YEARS AND THREE MONTHS.
JESSE WAS UNITED IN MARRIAGE TO HELEN COLEMAN ON APRIL 15, 1940, AT THE ST. JAMES CATHOLIC CHURCH IN POTOSI AND TO THIS UNION ONE SON WAS BORN.
JESSE IS SURVIVED BY HIS WIFE, HELEN R. SPARKS OF MINERAL POINT, ONE SON, JESSE EDWARD SPARKS AND WIFE DONNA, TWO GRANDCHILDREN, KURT SPARKS AND WIFE DEBBIE OF ST. LOUIS, KELLY CROSS AND HUSBAND KEVIN OF ST. LOUIS, FIVE GREAT GRANDCHILDREN, JACOB, ZACHERY AND KATIE CROSS OF ST. LOUIS, KYLE AND KALIN SPARKS OF ST. LOUIS, ONE SISTER, RITA GADDY OF FLORISSANT AND BY MANY OTHER RELATIVES AND FRIENDS. IN ADDITION TO HIS PARENTS HE WAS ALSO PRECEDED IN DEATH BY TWO BROTHERS, IRVIN AND BORDEN SPARKS, THREE SISTERS, NAOMI SPARKS, SYLVIA CLAY AND CELESTINE WALSH.
JESSE WAS A LIFELONG TRUCKER, HAVING OWNED HIS OWN TRUCKING BUSINESS MOST OF HIS LIFE. JESSE WAS A LIFELONG MEMBER OF THE ST. JAMES CATHOLIC CHURCH, WERE HE OFTEN SERVED AS AN USHER. HE WAS A PAST MEMBER OF THE MINERAL POINT LIONS CLUB. JESSE'S FAVORITE PAST TIME WAS WATCHING BASEBALL.
JESSE HAD A GREAT LOVE FOR HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS EACH OF THEM HELD A VERY DEAR PLACE IN HIS HEART.
VISITATION WAS HELD THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1999, FROM 5:00 P.M. TO 9:00 P.M. AT THE GUM & SON FUNERAL HOME IN POTOSI.
A FUNERAL WAS CONDUCTED FRIDAY, MARCH 5, 1999, AT 11:30 A.M. AT ST. JAMES CATHOLIC CHURCH WITH FATHER GEORGE GALOVICH OFFICIATING. BURIAL WAS IN CALVARY CEMETERY UNDER THE DIRECTION OF GUM & SON FUNERAL HOME, POTOSI.
SERVING AS PALLBEARERS WERE, KEVIN CROSS, JAKE CROSS, LYNN COLEMAN, MARK COLEMAN, DERRICK COLEMAN AND JEFF ABNEY.