Carl Robert Sparks

Carl Robert was born on 23 March 1923, the second son born to Robert Lee Sparks and Ebber Sloan Bostic. He enjoyed all kinds of sports and took part in athletic teams at Cliffside Public Schools from which he graduated in 1940. After graduation from high school Carl joined the army as a paratrooper with the 11th Airborne Division. He met and married Jackie Fredonia Bullard from Charlotte, North Carolina, on 23 October 1943. He spent several months seeing action in the Phillipines before the war ended. His first child, Carl Robert Sparks, Jr., was bom on December 22, 1944, while his father was in combat.

After his discharge from the army Carl moved his family to Cliffside, where they resided for several years. While living in Cliffside Carl commuted to Gaston College and completed his degree in business in 1950. His second child, Joy Raye, was born 18 July 1952. Carl was employed with RCA Corporation for thirty-five years before retiring from the company in 1985. His position with RCA carried the family to five different states, which enabled the family to meet many new friends.

Carl was yery active in the churches which the family attended through the years, serving as a Sunday School teacher, deacon, and Royal Rangers leader. He was also an active member of Gideons International. He was often called to give his testimony at church functions. Although he suffered several heart attacks during his lifetime, he always professed that his life was in the hands of the Lord. He died on 8 October 1987 after having suffered heart failure several weeks earlier.

Jackie Fredonia Bullard was born in Charlotte, NC 18 April 1926, the daughter of Robert Lee Bullard and Sarah Juanita Bentley. She spent most of her married life serving as a housewife and mother to her two children. She was active in the church with her husband and enjoyed visiting the nursing homes. Carl and Jackie enjoyed their travels together. Jackie continues to live in Charlotte, NC where she and Carl were living at the time of his death Her time is spent in ministering to the needs of her family and enjoying her grandchildren.

From “Some of the Ancestors and Descendents of Robert Lee Sparks and Ebber Sloan Bostic” by Jimmy Louis Sparks, 1999