August 5, 2023
Pages 2985
Whole Number 136
SHERMAN SPARKS IS RECIPIENT OF "SPIRIT OF TEXAS" AWARD
We have just learned of a unique honor which has been given to one of our most staunch supporters, Dr. Sherman Paul Sparks, of Rockwall, Texas. On April 11, 1986, he received the "Spirit of Texas" award which was given by the television station, Channel Eight. The honor was bestowed upon him "for his sense of loyalty and dedication to the Rockwall community, which has been his home since 1946."
A list of Dr. Sparks's accomplishments, as recited by the Rockwall Lakeshore Times, would require many typewritten pages. He has been an excellent civic leader (president of the Rockwall Centennial Association); a dedicated physician (he has delivered nearly 3,000 babies) ; a gifted inventor (he developed a photoelectric turbidimeter used to count bacteria); a brilliant teacher (he was one of eight teachers in the United States appointed to select materials to be put into science textbooks); and a devoted father (he reared four successful sons).
Sherman is listed in the History Encyclopedia of Texas; Who's Who in Politics; and Who's Who in Texas. Throughout his medical career, he has been a rider of horses, Model-T Fords, tractors, wagons - - and he has walked - - to visit the sick. The newspaper account concludes: "No one is better-loved or more respected than this wonderful super-doctor who has so successfully made his professional life compatible with his family responsibilities."
We send our belated congratulations to Dr. Sparks. (For information regarding the branch of the Sparks family to which he belongs, see page 1840 of the September 1976 issue of the Quarterly, Whole No. 95.)
[Note: Here appears a photograph of Dr. Sparks without caption.]
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