Title: Lemuel Sparks Oral History

Date/Date Range :   13 March 2001

Extent: 0.1 linear feet

Abstract:

This collection houses a transcription of an interview conducted by Kurt Piehler and Viviana Chapa with Lemuel Sparks on 2001 March 13. Sparks begins this interview by discussing his life in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina from his birth in 1917 until the time of the interview, including descriptions of such topics as school, religion, and war. Sparks also describes serving as a Navy Chaplin aboard the USS Sangamon and the USS Fall River in the Pacific during World War II and his later involvement with the Lutheran Church.

Call number: MS-3170

Repository: University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN

Aquisition Information:

Donated by the Center for War and Society at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Access Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Copyright:

The copyright interests in this collection remain with the creator. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library.

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of Item], Lemuel Sparks Oral History, MS-3170. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.

Collection consists of a single folder.

Reverend Lemuel Columbus Sparks was born 1917 September 13 in Newport, Tennessee. His father was a flour miller and his mother a teacher. The family left Newport in 1923 for Shelby, North Carolina. His father's health concerns forced him out of the mill and onto the farm, and family moved to Salem, Tennessee in 1930. The farm provided them with food during the Great Depression, but not with money. Sparks was a three-sport athlete growing up and studied hard. He started college in 1936, attending Roanoke College (a Lutheran school) in Salem, Virginia. In 1940, Sparks began his study at the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina.

At the onset of World War II, Sparks was advised to finish Seminary and enlist as a Chaplain. In 1943, Sparks was accepted as a Chaplain aboard the USS Sangamon and later the USS Fall River, both of which saw action in the Pacific during World War II. Following his tenure in the Navy, Sparks served as a minster in various Lutheran Churches in Maryland and Virginia until moving to Knoxville, Tennessee in 1954 with his wife, Betty (Zeigler) Sparks. Sparks also spent time in Kingsport, Tennessee developing a new Lutheran Church. While living in Knoxville, Sparks taught at the University of Tennessee from 1954 to 1966 in the School of Religion. He also served as the Secretary for the Lutheran Conference of America Southeastern Synod in Atlanta, Georgia. He retired from work within the Lutheran Church in 2001. Sparks passed away 2002 January 9 at 84 years of age.

In this interview, Lemuel Sparks discusses the Lutheran Church, life in East Tennessee during the early 20th century, and life aboard ship in the Pacific Theater during World War II. He begins his account with the story of his life in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina from 1917 to 1936 and continues on to describe his college life in Salem, Virginia and his time in the Seminary. Later, Sparks provides a colorful description of life as a Naval Chaplain during World War II. The roles of a Chaplain range from spiritual advisor to a "jack of all trades," as Sparks put it. Following the discussion of war, Sparks focuses on his time serving the Lutheran Church as a civilian minster and as an executive.

• World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, American.
• World War, 1939-1945 -- Veterans.
• United States. Navy.
• World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- Pacific Area.
• World War, 1939-1945 -- Chaplains.