Eleanor Murrill Sparkman

Eleanor Murrill Sparkman,99, passed away after a short illness on November 28, 2014. She was the daughter of Marguerite Yon and Daniel Webster Murrill. Her mother died when Eleanor was an infant and Clara DeVane became her beloved stepmother. Raised on a strawberry farm on Plant City, FL, she was the oldest of six siblings and is preceded in death by Wallace Murrill, Janet Liedstrand, Frank Murrill and Edna Erickson. Her proudest achievement as a teenager was being elected president of the Four H Club council for the state of Florida. Eleanor graduated from the Florida State College for Women with a teaching degree in Home Economics. She married Bascom Walden Sparkman, of Plant City, FL, in 1937 and their daughter, Susanne, was born in 1943. Eleanor’s teaching career spanned 37 years in Tampa where she was a home economics teacher, school counselor and Dean of Girl’s. Most of her retirement years were spent in her treasured mountain cabin in Franklin, NC. After Bascom’s death in 1984, Eleanor continued to travel, visiting every continent, except Antarctica. Her last 17 years were spent at Huntcliff Summit, an independent retirement community in Roswell, GA, where she became, according to another resident, “a role model for aging gracefully”. She is survived by her daughter, Susanne (Robert) Newell ; siblings, Wanda DeVane and Clinton Murrill. A memorial Service will take place on Friday, December 5, 2014 at 2:00 pm at Huntcliff Summit in the Essex room.