Dr. Earl E. Sprung, age 92, died peacefully at home on April 22, after a long illness. Dr. Sprung was born June 22, 1926, in Epsyville, Pennsylvania to Francis Joseph Sprung and Florence May Septka. He graduated from St. Martin Academy, Sturgis, South Dakota, in 1944. He attended Black Hills State College, Spearfish, South Dakota, for two years, then Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska for two years. He then transferred to the University of South Dakota at Vermillion where he received a BA in 1950, and an MA in history in 1951. He also took additional courses at several other universities.
Dr. Sprung served in the military from 1943 to 1946. He functioned as a flying crew chief and aerial engineer. He was stationed in Europe, Africa and Asia. He was a Sergeant when discharged in 1946. This experience enabled him to be hired as an inspector for the Boeing Airplane Co. from 1954 to 1957, where he worked as an inspector on the B-52 program, stamping his initials in the frame of every one; most are still flying.
Upon leaving military service he attended college, after graduation he taught in South Dakota high schools from 1951 to 1954 and 1956 to 1957. During the summer of 1953 he worked as a forest ranger in the Black Hills National Forest. During the summer of 1954, he was a ranger naturalist in the Southwest Monuments area.
Dr. Sprung worked for the State of Kansas Department of Agriculture from 1960 to 1987, and was manager and chief grain inspector of the department in the Board of Trade in Kansas City, Missouri. His staff served and regulated the Kansas sector of the second largest grain market in the US. While doing this work he also studied psychology for three years and belonged to several scientific and professional groups.
Dr. Sprung was married to his first wife Myrtle J. Sprung 27 years, retiring from his position with the State of Kansas in 1987 to care for her until her death in 1989. He helped raise her two daughters, now deceased, and their children and grandchildren.
After his first wife’s death, Dr. Sprung met his second wife Mary Ellen Sprung on a pilgrimage in Europe. They married in 1989 and traveled extensively through Europe, the Holy Land, and Turkey, as well as all of this country and parts of New Brunswick and British Colombia, although his wife continued working as an RN until 2008. Dr. Sprung loved to study and earned a Doctor of Religious Studies and a Ph.D. in Theology from Trinity College and Seminary in Newburgh, Indiana.
He enjoyed studying languages until his final illness. He loved his work, his family, his studies, and his church. He volunteered at a local nursing home in leading a prayer group with his wife for about 28 years until his final two year long illness. He continued to be determined to pursue health and live as best he could until his final two weeks, using his daily exercise program of walking in the house and other practices with assistance.
In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church, 3934 Washington St. Kansas City, MO 64111.
The family would like to thank all his caregivers at Liberty Hospital Hospice and Focus Health Care Solutions in Kearney, MO for their dedication and compassionate care.
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