Honor Pages Index

Honor Pages

STS1(SS/DV) Rex Allen Sparks • 1956 – 2023

Ordered crosses stand as reminders that we will never forget... (American Cemetery, Manila, PI)
Ordered crosses stand as reminders that we will never forget... (American Cemetery, Manila, PI)

Rex Allen Sparks

sparks rex 01Rex Allen Sparks went home to Jesus on February 15, 2023, at age 66.

Rex passed away peacefully at his home in Stockton, Georgia. Always by his side was his beloved wife, Anita Lynn (Lawson) Sparks.

Rex was born on October 26, 1956, in West Liberty, Kentucky, to his parents Levi Jared Sparks Jr. and Detta Frances Sparks of Morehead, Ky.

Rex was a decorated veteran who served for over 20 years in both the United States Army and the United States Navy.

In 1978 he met, fell in love with, and soon married Anita. That same year, Rex joined the United States Navy. After they married, Rex and Anita went on to have 3 children, Travis Sparks, Sarah (Sparks) Ebanks, and Matthew Sparks.

Rex would go on to serve in the Persian Gulf War in the Submarine Service. Rex and Anita traveled the world during his military career and settled in Georgia after Rex proudly retired as a Sonar Technician Petty Officer First Class.

During his career, Rex also obtained his Associates Degree from Mohegan Community College as well as his Bachelor of Science in Education Degree and his Master of Education Degree from Valdosta State University.

In addition to being a dedicated and loving father, Rex also loved watching westerns, fishing, talking about his family, boasting of his time in the submarine service, and collecting pocketknives. Throughout his entire life, Rex held an unwavering faith in God, which he often shared with those who surrounded him.

Rex joins his father, Levi Jared Sparks Jr., his mother, Detta Frances Sparks and his brother, Rocky Wayne Sparks in Heaven.

sparks rex 02Rex is survived by his wife, Anita Lynn (Lawson)Sparks; three children, Travis (Amanda) Sparks, Sarah (Nathaniel) Ebanks, and Matthew Sparks, and nine grandchildren, Riley Sparks, Makayla Hatchett, Raylan Sparks, Nichole Roman, Julianna Ebanks, Mariska Ebanks, Kenadi Ebanks, Bronwen Ebanks, and Bela Sparks.

Other survivors include two sisters, Shirley (Sparks) Gallagher and Beverly (Sparks) Nealis; one brother, Kevin Glen Barker and their families, as well as other nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be conducted 1 p.m. Friday, February 24, 2023, at Northcutt & Son Home for Funerals Memorial Chapel with Brother Lloyd Dean and the Reverend J. C. Sparks officiating. Burial will follow in New Sill Cemetery with full military honors by Morehead American Legion Post No. 126. The service will be live streamed at Northcutt & Son Home for Funerals Facebook page beginning at 1 p.m.

Visitation will be from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, February 23, 2023, at Northcutt & Son Home for Funerals, 400 Fraley Drive, Morehead, KY 40351.

View memorial tribute or sign guestbook at www.northcuttandson.com

STS1(SS) Rex Sparks, Sonar, served with us on the USS WILLIAM H. BATES (SSN 680) from October 1982 through July 1984. Fair winds and following seas, Rex. You were our brother. You will be missed.

 

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Our shipmate has passed on before us.

Whether by enemy action, the remorseless sea, or the ravages of time and age,
we must accept that God has called you to where we cannot yet follow.

We commend your body to the deep, and your soul to God Almighty.

May God grant you fair winds and following seas.

 

Godspeed, shipmate.

 

We will miss you...

 

 

 

"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated. God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God's hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that library where every book shall lie open to one another...

"No man is an island, entire of itself, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.

"Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

John Donne

Meditation XVII
Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions
Nunc lento sonitu dicunt, morieris.
Now this bell tolling softly for another, says to me, Thou must die.
1572 - 1631

 

 

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