Obituary of Hayward Sparks

Obituary of Hayward Sparks Hayward Sparks, Sr. is the son of Coy and Sophia Sparks, born March 18, 1928 in Mexia, Texas. He moved to Dallas with his mother at an early age and attended the Dallas Public Schools: Pacific Avenue, Julia C. Frazier and Lincoln High School. He was a veteran and served his country in the U. S. Navy. His tour was completed in 1946. Returning to Dallas, he enrolled in Southwest business College and attended Bishop College Extension School. He received his Bachelor's Degree in Accounting from North Texas State University now the University of North Texas in Denton. Additional study was done at the Federal Executives Institute in Charlottesville, Virginia and the Federal Executives Institute at the University of California at Berkeley. He was married to Mrs. Thelma Hunter Sparks for twenty-seven years and to this union one son and one daughter were born. Their marriage was dissolved in 1981. His accounting career began in Dallas under the tutelage of Robert Dedmon and later he opened the Sparks Bookkeeping Service followed by employment as Comptroller for the Tyler Barber Colleges with home office in Tyler, Texas. He served as Field Auditor for the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the Commodity Credit Corporation based in New Orleans, Louisiana. His employment with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) began in Fort Worth followed by HUD employment in Omaha, Nebraska. After four years, he was named Director of HUD in the Mid-West Region with offices located in Kansas City, Kansas. For a brief time, he served as Director of HUD in Cleveland, Ohio, and later he returned to Kansas City. He retired from HUD in 1984 as Special Assistant to the Regional Director of the Mid-West Region. Returning to Dallas upon retirement, he reunited with Hamilton Park United Methodist Church where he and his family had worshiped as charter members. He became active in the church as vice-chair of the Finance Committee, Church Trustee and member of the Board of Trustees of the Nursery School. He was committed to the study of the Bible and completed four years of Discipleship Training and devoted a year to the study of the life of Paul. For over 20 years, he has served as an adult Sunday School Teacher as well as mid-week Bible Study Leader at Hamilton Park UMC. One of his cherished experiences in the church was taking his son on the Walk to Emmaus Retreat with other Hamilton Park men and their sons. He is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. He is survived by son, Hayward Sparks, Jr., CLU, ChFc (Eva), one daughter, Charisse Sparks, M.D. (Rhonda), three grandchildren, Hayward Sparks III, Christina Sparks and Jesse Sparks of Houston and one sister, Coylette Sparks of Atlanta, Georgia.