Until the day of her passing, which was on Tuesday, March 19, 2019, not a single gray hair grew from the head of Virginia “Honey” Sparling. That was her “claim to fame,” and at 97, one she still touted proudly. Her honey colored hair earned her the early nickname among childhood friends and family members. The Minnesota-born Finn was raised in a small Finnish mining community in Mullan, Idaho until she returned to the Midwest to attend college, where she studied to be a teacher.
After college, Virginia taught home economics for several years before she moved to Southern California, where she enjoyed an independent and sociable life working in retail at a department store and as a substitute teacher. At age 25, then considered an “old maid,” she met the love of her life, Joe Sparling, on a blind-date, and in December 1947 they began their life together. The two remained happily married until Joe’s death in 2009, and raised two children together. She is survived by her daughter, Rebecca Lauzau of Hiko, Nevada, and her son, Steven Sparling of Holly Springs, North Carolina. Her only two granddaughters, Stephanie Sparling Williams and Shelley Sparling, were her pride and joy.
Virginia was passionate about Happy Hour, traveling, and playing bridge (in that order). And while she preferred can coffee and cheap wine—nothing “too fancy”—she and Joe enjoyed upscale cruises, lavish parties, military galas, and regular evenings “on the town.” Together, they traveled to dozens of counties on every inhabitable continent (several times), and made frequent trips to Finland, where she maintained relationships with her aunts, cousins, and their children.
She was loved by many and will be especially missed by her family, friends, and neighbors of over thirty years at Lake Shore Garden in Carlsbad, Emerald Village in Oceanside, and more recently, at the Meridian at Lake San Marcos.
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