A tribute to Quentin Sparks  by Bill Bates
 

Obituary: Samuel Quentin Sparks

[November 23, 2020]  It has been a week today that my Friend, Quentin Sparks, died. His death was sudden and was a shock to me and all who knew and loved him. I have struggled for a week now about how to say goodbye to my friend in these days of COVID-19 when I did not get to see or talk with him before he died. I have concluded the best way I can say goodbye is to recall all of the good times we had together and write them down so as not to ever forget how very close he and I were. I will tell you this is among the hardest things I have ever done as it is so very hard to see my keyboard through my tear stained eyes.

Quentin and I first met when I was quite young. I am going to guess I was no more than 12 or 13 years old. That would make it 53 or 54 years ago. I came to know Quentin first as a boss when I went to work for him and his Father on their Family Farm near Mt Pulaski, Illinois. In those early years I walked beans and bailed hay. Quentin was with me, always when bailing hay and most of the time walking beans. Our friendship grew during those years that I worked on the farm with Quentin. He taught me much during those years, most importantly the meaning of hard work and perseverance.

As my time on the farm grew, I was entrusted with greater responsibility and was soon driving tractors and tilling fields. All the while, Quentin was by my side teaching me about farming and life. Most of my summers were spent working on the farm and I enjoyed the camaraderie of farm life, the hard work, the wonderful meals prepared by Quentin’s wonderful Mother, Clara Belle and then by the love of his life, Mary Beth.

In 1972, I was off to college but would return to the farm to work for Quentin during my summers. I had some challenges in college and Quentin was there to help me out. I recall one time I got into a jam and Quentin helped me out of it, without sharing it with my parents. That next summer, I worked that debt off at a very low hourly rate which Quentin always said would teach me not to do that kind of thing again. Believe me, his lesson worked, and I never got into trouble again. I completed my college requirements early and came back to help Quentin on the farm in April of 1976 before I headed out to what I hoped was law school, although, that was not certain at the time. While working with Quentin one day that summer the news came that I had been accepted to Law School at Drake University. I think Quentin and, his father, were as proud at that moment as my Parents. They said they knew I could do it but worried only that the admissions folks at Drake would not be smart enough to take me!

I was the off to law school and from that point forward, I do not think I worked on the farm again but, Quentin and I stayed close through my law school years and we always got together with him and Mary Beth whenever we were in Lincoln. Their son Will became the light of their lives and we were so happy when he became a part of their family. I completed law school and returned to Lincoln to work for my father. My wife and I were married in 1977 and Quentin stood up with me as my Best Man.

The things Quentin taught me on the farm became invaluable in my Practice of Law. I knew and understood farming and that was important in a small rural community. I understood and appreciated the Farmer and that was instilled in me by Quentin.
Quentin and I did many things together. We hunted ducks and pheasants, we drank a lot of beer, prior to my quitting in 1980, we fished in Canada, we traveled extensively with our wives and much, much more. We celebrated everything together as we moved forward. Be it Thanksgiving or Christmas, the arrival of our children or the death of a loved one or friend, Quentin, Mary Beth and Will were with us. Quentin and I talked business, politics, farming and as he called it, lawyering. Although he was one of Logan Counties few Democrats, he and I never had a harsh word about politics. We often disagreed but never let that bother us as so many others do today.

The relationship Quentin and I had was something special. I fear it is something one can hope to have only once in his or her life. Quentin and I often said to each other that you can count the people you can rely on, on one hand. My friend, I have one less to rely on now. He taught me much and I like to think I taught him a thing or two also. I will forever miss Quentin Sparks! I hope you are sitting in a duck blind right now with all of our hunting buddies who have preceded us, with all of your dogs that have passed, with ducks fogging in all around you.

God Speed my friend.

[Bill Bates]