by Kevin Sparenberg

Thank you for taking the time to view our web page. I am going to attempt to give a brief description of last 25 years along with some pictures. Some of the pictures were old and faded but I have included them anyway.

Friday afternoon January 19th I stopped in Gibson City, Illinois at a restaurant called Jake & Kate's for coffee and a bowl of cottage cheese with peaches. A pretty waitress with long red hair waited on me. I think she was amused by my choice of nourishment. She was a skinny woman, but after all, I had been advised to marry them skinny cause they get fat soon enough. Marriage is what I was in town for. I was to be in the wedding party for my 1st cousin Monty Cluver and we were to have a rehearsal that evening.

When I arrived at the rehearsal I discovered my skinny red hair waitress was also in the wedding party. She ignored me at the rehearsal but after the wedding on Saturday when we drove cars around town honking horns she decided to ride with me in my car. Actually I think she was talked into it by a matchmaking cousin of mine. We ended up spending the rest of the day together, and I came back to Gibson City on Sunday and spent that day with her also. In fact, I drove to Gibson City to spend time with her almost every day thereafter. I proposed marriage one week after meeting her. It must have been her green eyes that did me in.

Feb 1973 at AGR Fraternity

To tell the truth though, her daughter Lisa proposed the marriage. Three year old Lisa asked me if I was going to be her daddy. I kinda thought it was a good idea. We got married July 28th 1973 while Rosemary was on school break. Rosemary was enrolled at the Bloomington School of Licensed Practical Nurses. We had time for a wedding and a short honeymoon.

Lisa at the Wedding

Following Rosemary's graduation from LPN school we moved to an old farm house west of Danforth. I was farming with the family and Rosemary took a job with Prairieview Lutheran Home in Danforth. Jason was born November 5th 1974.

Lisa & Jason

We built a new home on the family farm. Construction started August 1976 and we moved in August 1977. We did most of the work ourselves except the furnace, plastering and bricklaying. The large kitchen had oak cabinets custom built by a craftsman from a local town. It was our dream home designed and built by ourselves. We lived there until it was destroyed by fire November 23rd 1996. This is where the children called home. We were involved in the local 4-H club serving as leaders and I was the local township clerk for 12 years. Rosemary became a staff nurse at local Central Community Hospital in Clifton, Illinois. We have been active at Zion Lutheran Church in Clifton where Rosemary has been church organist.

Jason & Rebel

Jason & Rebel

Lisa

Kevin & Rosemary 1987

Rosemary attended Olivet Nazarene College and graduated Magna Cum Laude in May 1984 with a BSN. She then returned to Central Community Hospital as staff nurse and Infection Control Coordinator.

Graduation - Kevin, Rosemary, Jason & Lisa

I decided to exit the family farm business and enter the high school agriculture teaching profession. I taught six wonderful years and enjoyed the FFA activities and contests immensely. I decided however to go into private business and started Computer Training Associates July 1993.

Our lives were changed forever the summer of 1984 when Lisa and her boyfriend Steve were killed in an automobile accident.

Lisa & Steve

Jason became a bass tournament fisherman while in high school. He then attended Rend Lake Community College in Illinois for two years. (great bass fishing area) then transferred to Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. While living in southern Illinois Jason volunteered his time to answer the Prayer Line one night a week for Three Angels Broadcasting, a satellite TV station. He also helped with the Crisis Hot Line while at Southern University. Jason took a year off from college and is now finishing up his BS degree in psychology from Olivet Nazarene University. He is on dean's list and expects to graduate in December 1998.

Jason 1989

After our farm home burnt we were lucky to find a house available for rent in Gilman, Illinois and only 2 blocks from my mother. I am a member of the Gilman Rotary and have a computer training classroom in Gilman as well as in Kankakee.

The End!