Albert Fizer

Akin Davis Funeral Home - LaBelle

Darryl Sparling

Ponderosa Valley Funeral Services

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Sparling, Darryl E. “Bud” 

Feb 16, 1937 - Dec 3, 2016 

Bud Sparling joined his Lord Jesus Christ on Saturday, Dec 3. The Reverend Doctor Sparling ministered first as a US Army Chaplain with tours in Korea, Vietnam and Germany. With his wife Carol, he served in several Evangelical Presbyterian pastorates in the Denver area and was Moderator of the denomination. Later they were missionaries around the world through Youth For Christ. 

Bud is survived by his wife, Carol, children, Matson Sparling, Meg Sparling, and Bryan Sparling, 8 grandchildren and his sister, Patricia Sparling Herber. 

Darryl Edward Sparling, was born February 16, 1937, in Seattle, Washington. His mother, Hester Brumbaugh Sparling was a famously gregarious woman, full of the Holy Spirit and infectious zeal for Jesus. Born in 1905, Hester eventually fell in love and married Frederick Edward Sparling, a dapper, young US Marine. Fred was a straightforward, serious man who having lost his own father was placed in a foster home at age 6 and decided to make the US Marine Corps his true family by the time he was 18. Hester and Fred were married in Seattle, WA in September 1927. 

The US Marine Corps was the defining environment of young Bud Sparling’s world. From birth through High School graduation, Bud, along with his older sister Patricia, grew up with Hester steadily in control of family affairs while Fred served The Corps at various Naval Air Stations: San Point, Coronado, El Toro, and Cherry Point. It was during Junior High, in Hawthorne, Nevada that Bud found his two loves: Jesus Christ and basketball. On March 18, 1951, Palm Sunday, Bud made a profession of faith in Christ. He recalled it, “a profound experience both rationally and emotionally. I can clearly recall a sense of being inside of a light and high and lifted up all at the same time. It was a timeless moment of Divine presence and consolation. I was baptized, by immersion, into the body of Christ the next Sunday, Easter Day.” 

The Sparlings moved to Opa Locka Air Station, Miami, Florida in 1952 where Bud attended Miami Edison High School. His endless in hours in the base gym back in Nevada paid off and he became a leading scorer on the Edison varsity basketball team. It was also during these Miami years that Bud became quite active in the family Baptist Church and began to have conversations with church leaders about the ministry. 

In 1954, Bud began college at the Citadel, Charleston, SC. True to form he continued to excel in basketball, becoming the team’s leading scorer his sophomore year. But his Citadel career was cut short by the unexpected death of his father in May 1956. Calling it a “moral” decision, Bud transferred to the University of Washington so he might move home to Seattle to live with his widowed mother Hester. 

Bud became active at University Presbyterian Church where his student pastor, Rev. Earl Palmer, introduced him to the writing of C.S. Lewis, who would become, arguably, the greatest influence in his thinking and spirituality. 

During these years Bud made his first short term mission trip to Point Barrow, Alaska. During this adventure he met and fell in love with Carol Helphrey who would become his “best friend, lover, companion, spiritual servant and guide over the years and miles.” 

Graduating from UW, Bud was commissioned through Army ROTC as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Infantry in 1959. Bud and Carol were married in Carol’s hometown of Spokane, Washington on October 24, 1959. The couple completed two years at Fort Lewis in Tacoma, Washington before moving to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama in 1961. Here, prior to the creation of the Military Intelligence Corps, Bud was detailed to work in the “Ready Room” where teams analyzed satellite imagery documenting the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. The arrival of Matson Edward Sparling, made the Sparling’s a family of 3 in February 1962 as Bud and Carol’s first born. 

In the summer of 1963, in true Army fashion, Bud led Carol (great with child #2) and young Matson to Columbus, Georgia and the famous Fort Benning. After a few short weeks, Linda Margaret entered the world as Sparling #4 in September 1963. Soon after completing the grueling Ranger School, Bud was assigned, as a First Lieutenant, to Command, B Co, 2nd Battalion, 23 Infantry Regiment. This company was part of the Army’s premier, experimental “air mobile” Division, and Bud’sBattalion, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore, would become immortalized in the book and movie “We Were Soldiers” for their heroic actions in the bloody Ia Drang Valley, 14-17 November 1965 – one of the very first engagements of US forces in the Vietnam war. 

God, however, had different plans for Bud Sparling. In late 1964, Bud gave up command in order to attend the Infantry Officer’s Advanced Course and the Military Assistance Command – Vietnam training course. He then received orders to proceed to Vietnam as an Advisor the South Vietnamese Army. After moving the family back to Spokane, Bud left Carolwith a “bun in the oven” and departed for Vietnam in the fall of 1965. 

At the same time that Bud’s former battalion (now reflagged as 1st BN, 7th Cavalry) was engaged farther north in the Ia Drangvalley, Bud was assigned as an Advisor to 1st BN, 7th RGT, 5th IN DIV (Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN)). Bud’s unit became engaged and eventually overrun by the Viet Cong 272ndRegiment on the evening of 27 November 1965 at the Michelin Rubber Plantation, approximately 45 miles northwest of Siagon, Vietnam. On this night, Bud recalls, “over six hundred South Vietnamese soldiers were killed; seven Americans were killed and two wounded. I sustained not a scratch. But God used this experience to call me to ministry – loud and clear. The words of the 91st Psalm, my mother’s claim of God’s promise to her during my tour in Vietnam, became a literal reality. This experience was the most profound desolation of my life. I have smelled the horror of hell.” 

Returning home from Vietnam, soon after Bryan Nathan’s birth in March of 1966, Bud resigned from active duty to answer God’s call as a student at Princeton Seminary. In less than three years, he completed seminary, passed ordination exams and returned to active duty as a Chaplain at Fort Bragg, NC. Bud’s career as a chaplain took him to the DMZ in Korea, Fort Hood, Texas, Fitzsimons Army Hospital in Aurora, Colorado, and Frankfurt Central Chapel in Germany. During his last tour Bud played a critical role in the founding of Military Community Youth Ministry, which continues to reach the kids of military families around the world today. 

Retiring from the Army in 1982, Bud and Carol settled in Aurora, Colorado where Bud accepted a position as an associate pastor at Faith Presbyterian Church. Bud’s time in civilian ministry included periods of significant spiritual growth at the Benedictine Monastery in Pecos, New Mexico, serving in several pastorates in the Denver area and a year of renewal at the Doulos Christian community in Ralston, Pennsylvania. 

In 1992, Bud joined Parker Evangelical Presbyterian Church while he and Carol together answered a call from Youth for Christ International to provide pastoral care and visits to YFC World Outreach Missionaries around the world. For more than 15 years, Bud and Carol traveled tirelessly to more than 50 countries providing love, care, and counseling to workers for Christ in remote locations. 

Doctor Sparling enjoyed books, learning and teaching. Hecontinued to pursue advanced education late into life adding in 2006 a Doctorate in Ministry to his previous Masters degrees in Divinity, Theology and Psychology. Bud played a significant role in the EPC denomination not only serving as Moderator in 2001 but also as a member of the Permanent Judicial Commission, the Chaplains Work and Care Committee and in rewriting the EPC Book of Discipline. Bud also was an adjunct professor of Denver Seminary, where he taught Presbyterian Polity and facilitated a required spiritual formation group for students. In final years Bud even taught a popular class on C.S. Lewis to fellow residents at Clermont Park community. 

Throughout this journey, dating back to 1973, Bud and Carol have been part of a small group Bible-study called John II Koinonia. This dedicated group of friends in Jesus Christ havelong been “soul friends, the body of Christ, a community of faith.” Bud considered it a “rare privilege to have relationships like this to share life with. We pray and play together, study and struggle, grow in Christ and give ourselves in ministry all over the world.” What magnificent consolation to have these brothers and sisters in Christ by his side to the very end! 

A Celebration of Bud's Life will be held at Parker Evangelical Presbyterian Church (PEPC), 9030 Miller Road in Parker on Saturday, December 17th, 11:00 a.m. Final Resting Place will be Fort Logan National Cemetery. 

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in Bud's memory be made to: Parker Evangelical Presbyterian Church, 9030 Miller Road, Parker, CO 80138, www.pepc.org, or, Christ Episcopal Church, 2950 S. University Blvd., Denver, CO 80210, www.christchurchdenver.org

Charitable donations may be made to:

Parker Evangelical Presbyterian Church
9030 Miller Road, Parker CO 80138
Tel: 1-303-841-2125
Web: http://www.pepc.org

Christ Episcopal Church
2950 S. University Blvd., Denver CO 80210
Web: http://www.christchurchdenver.org

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Darryl Bud Sparling Obituary | Altogether