R. LeRoy Sparks

R. LeRoy “Roy” Sparks, 79, East Lynne, Mo., died while surrounded by family and loved ones July 22, 2018, after battling cancer. He was born in Newton, Feb. 10, 1939. He grew up in Farrar.

He attended technical school for air traffic control in Kansas City, Mo., after high school. Then he moved to Phoenix and worked for Frontier Airlines as an air traffic controller. He was drafted into the Army and continued to be an air traffic controller in the Korean War. He came back to Iowa to help his dad farm when he met Dana. They were married, lived in Farrar and had two sons. Then they moved to Baxter, and had one daughter. Roy lived in Baxter where he farmed, sold Na-Churs fertilizer, sold Land Oil with SOIL Service and was a partner in SAAM Fertilizer. In 1991, he moved to Lee’s Summit, Mo., and work for the gas company. In 1993, he started the partnership Little Bit Company with Marge Mitchell, who later became his wife. They opened Little Bit Store in East Lynne, Mo., where he lived the remainder of his life. He has been the mayor of East Lynne, on the city council and on the fire department board numerous times over the 25 years that he has been in East Lynne. Roy was a Shriner, a lifetime member of the Masons and member of the Gunn City Christian Church.

During his lifetime he enjoyed flying his airplane, popping kettle corn, farming, attending numerous agriculture trade shows and sharing a cup of coffee with friends.

Roy is preceded in death by his parents, Russell and Pauline Sparks; his sisters, Beverly Bailey, Marilyn Johnson; his brother, Delmar Sparks; and his step-daughter, Melody Mitchell. He is survived by his wife, Amargia; his children, Chet and Kurt; daughters-in-law, Kim and Shalia; and step-children, Marvina, Matthew and Martin. He will be missed by many.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested for donations be made to the Nursing Education Fund at St. Luke’s East Hospital, for the extraordinary care that they showed to him and his family.

A funeral service was Saturday, July 28 at the Dickey Funeral Home in Harrisonville, Mo., with burial in the Staley Mound Cemetery near Pleasant Hill, Mo.

Visit dickeyfh.com.