Jack Sparks Enriched Us

It was not a surprise to learn of Jack Spark’s passing. He and I spoke back in November of last year, and he told me then that he had contracted bone cancer, his eighth cancer.  During that conversation he expressed that he was considering getting a petition together within Lower Township to right a wrong, as he saw it, but because of his cancer, his energies were down. 
Jack had an indomitable spirit, and was a true scrapper. He was again fighting for his life, but still driven by a desire to do his best for his community. He had been the mayor of Lower a couple of decades back. He credited former Herald editor, Joe Zelnik, for getting him re-involved in politics, when Zelnik once wrote: The Martians came and sucked all the brains of Lower Township Council. 
Following a conversation Jack and I had in 2009, I sent a note to Fred Coldren, asking his thoughts regarding Jack’s joining our Cape Issues group. Fred responded, “Yes, absolutely yes; involve Jack Sparks.  He (had)… an exemplary record as mayor of Lower Township for several years. (He was) commissioner and chairman of Delaware River & Bay Authority, a veteran bay pilot, etc.  Great guy! … Let’s enlist his energies.  I really don’t know why I didn’t think to recruit him earlier.”
As I came to know Jack over the next several years, there were a couple of recurrent themes to our conversations, one was his opposition to Spout Off; the other was God.
Jack regularly complained to me that if people are going to state their opinions, they needed to sign their names; that if they were not willing to stand behind their opinions, they should keep them to themselves. I responded that the people’s voice is too little heard, that in calling for signatures, it would, as such, make their expressions into letters to the editor. The problem with letters to the editor is, we receive 25 Spout Offs for every letter, so clearly 96 percent of the people were not comfortable signing their opinions.
Jack was adamant. He would give me no peace on the issue. I knew, however, his heart was in the right place; I also knew that we were printing the bad with the good because of the difficulty, or impossibility, of knowing which was which.  We finally resolved that he and his wife, Pati, would bring me every Spout Off they considered destructive, and we would talk about them. This we did, and as a result of it, we revamped our review processes.
What we came up with is something more time-consuming, but without the issues which caused the Sparks such consternation. In the end, Jack told me, with the changes we implemented, he supported Spout Off.
To the other topic, God. Five years ago, Jack voiced his problem with Christianity to me, a problem which goes back to Adam and Eve: “Why would God provide temptation when He knew in advance that many would give in to it?” My explanation was, God did not want to make puppets; thus, God had no choice but to provide a genuine opportunity to reject him. I kept praying for Jack, and I continued to tell him that I was doing so. He remained good-natured about my saying that, but continued to dismiss it.  At the end of last year he told me that he had made his peace with the Lord. I wanted to hug him right over the phone, and responded, “That was a monumental, eternal decision on your part, Jack… Praise God.”
The world had a genuine servant in Jack Sparks. He did his work and is now gone. His impact on others lives on.
Art Hall
From the Bible:  ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ Matthew 25:21