I must admit that I was amazed when my daughter discovered your site. It brought back some very fond memories of my childhood, spending my summers at my grandparents house in Mossville. My name is Richard Douglas Sparks, son of Jearl (and Rosa) Sparks, youngest son of Richard and Irene Sparks. I spent a lot of my summers at their house.

I forget his name, but Mr. Edgmon, whose wife ran the post office in the sixties, regularly looked after my grandparents, checking in on them often. My grandfather was blind.

I remember them sitting out on the porch, smoking their pipes, looking out over that fantastic view, telling stories and chatting for hours. Grandpa's house was about a quarter of a mile north of the church.

We buried my father in the Mossville Cemetary a few years ago. There are eight of us children spread around the country, myself ending up in Laredo, Texas.

Ola Rader, the last of the children of Irene and Richard is now fighting cancer in Kansas City and is not expected to survive many more months. When she departs it will be the end of a great era. Is there any compilation that you have available that I could put together for her to enjoy in her last days?

I remember well walking from Grandpa's house to the post office, batting rocks with wooden slats. Try explaining that kind of memory to your children.

I have added your site to my favorites and will continue to visit it regularly. If there is anything I can do to assist you please let me know.

Thanks for bringing back some incredible memories. Richard Sparks

Richard's grandparents were known as Dick and Rener Sparks...if you knew them or any of their children, please contact Richard and convey your recollections to him. Am sure he would be very pleased to hear from you and to share what he learns with his Aunt Ola.

The Mr. Edgmon that Richard mentioned was Virgil Edgmon, youngest son of Edward Edgmon and Sally Guthrie. Virgil's wife was Annie Reynolds.

I guess Dick Sparks was blind from birth. Being blind did not keep him from having a sense of humor or a bit of an onry side. I was about eight years old when I first remember seeing Dick Sparks. My parents, grandparents, and my brother and I were at Decoration Day at Mossville. There Dick was, blind and walking through the cemetery as though he could see every stone underfoot. A little later he was talking with grandpa when my momma and I walked up. He reached out and by feeling the top of momma's head, he knew who she was. I was so amazed by him being able to do that.

The closest I ever came to hearing my Grandpa talk bad was in a little story he used to tell about him and Dick. My grandparents always poured their coffee from their cups into a saucer and sipped from it. Grandpa would say that he did so because his cup was always overflowing with blessings from Jesus. So, when I got just a bit older and understood the 'funny' in his story, I could not help but worry that Jesus would stop blessing him.

Grandpa had ate dinner with Dick and Rener. When Rener was pouring coffee in Dick's cup, the coffee spilled into his lap. Grandpa said, 'Did it burn ya Dick?' With a grin on his face and a snicker in his voice, Dick replied, 'Nope, but it burnt my leg'.