Wayne D. Sprague

WAYNE DAVID SPRAGUE

Wayne David Sprague was born on December 8^th, 1952, to Robert David Sprague and Evelyn Hill Sprague. He lived to the age of 71, losing his battle with cancer and entering into his heavenly abode on August 30, 2024.

At his birth, the family lived in Kansas City Missouri. They moved to a farm in Pleasant Hill, Missouri when Wayne was 8, along with his brother, Bobby, and sister, Sandra.

He attended Pleasant Hill High School, graduating in 1970. In 1972 he was drafted into the Army. However, as fate would have it, his class didn’t finish their basic training until after Paris Peace Treaty was ratified. Therefore, the military sent him to Korea instead.

He came home two years later with a bride and a baby on the way, Sujanna. They went on to have two more children, Gina and David. They lived on the family farm in Pleasant Hill for a while and then moved to Harrisonville, Missouri, where Wayne worked for the post office while going to college. He graduated with an Associate Degree in Urban Agriculture in 1978 and an Associate Degree in Marketing in 1981.

Unfortunately, his first marriage didn’t last, so he became a single dad. In 1985, his children flew to San Diego, California to temporarily stay with Wayne’s brother, sister-in-law and nieces. He followed them within the year and lived there for 10 years while the children finished school. He attended United States International University in San Diego and graduated with his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology in 1990.

In 1996 he moved back to Pleasant Hill, Missouri to take care of his parents. In 2005, the extended family decided that he move his parents to Seattle to live with his sister and brother-in-law. Shortly after their arrival, he rushed to San Diego to be with his son suffering from a traumatic accident. Praying with his daughters every day, Wayne was able to witness his son’s miraculous recovery while he was in the hospital for three months. In 2006 he returned to Seattle to be with his parents, sister and brother-in-law. In the span of the first six months in 2007, he lost three members of his family: his brother, Robert (Bobby), his mother, and his brother-in-law, John Stamm. In September of that year, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He was able to receive one of the first robotic prostate surgeries in July 2008 at the VA in San Francisco. He made a full recovery, putting the cancer in remission.

In December 2008 Wayne returned to Kansas City, Missouri, and in September 2009 he was married to his wife, Linda Curtis Sprague. He lived in Missouri for the rest of his days. Unfortunately, the cancer returned in 2000 as metastatic cancer but was not diagnosed until March of 2022. He was able to live another two and a half years before succumbing to his disease.

He was a tall, handsome man, 6’2”, lean, very strong and muscular from his years of manual labor in his gardens. He was a kind, gentle, caring man. His life was about love. Love of God, family, and his country. He deeply cared for all those around him. He was gifted with a brilliant mind with an amazing memory which inspired him to learn to seek truth his entire life. He studied the Bible, Quantum Mechanics, World History, Politics, Economics, Weather patterns, Genealogy, Horticulture and in his last few years, he concentrated on the human body, and the effects of food and chemicals.  He thoroughly enjoyed a heated debate on any of those subjects, especially if it involved current events. But his most beloved activity was horticulture. No matter where he lived, he would either have a garden or help others with their gardens. He was well known by all those that saw the product of his ambitious endeavors in the garden. Above all else he never wavered from his love of God, his faith, his wife, and his children and grandchildren.

His most notable accomplishment was instilling his faith in God, truth, and love in his children. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for his children – or extended family, if he had the means to do it. He took his children full time after his divorce with the wonderful help of his parents and brother and sister-in-law, and then in their later years, he cared for his parents. He helped take care of his father, his mother, and his brother-in-law before their death, he helped his nieces and other family members when warranted, and he took care of his ailing wife for the 15 years before his death.

His life-long quest was to explain the link between God and science. His university thesis was on that subject. He loved Einstein’s work because he felt it embodied the clues that would lead us to linking the universe to God. In some ways he was ahead of his time.

He was always determined to do better, setting the bar high for himself, never accepting his accomplishments or defeats; however, at the same time standing tall and proud of all his children’s and grandchildren’s accomplishments.

His undying request of God was for a sense of freedom and peace, not only in the world, but in his soul. His family’s prayer is that he rests in peace and freedom now with his Heavenly Father.

He is preceded in death by his father and mother, Robert David Sprague and Evelyn O’Homera Hill Sprague, his sister Sandra Elaine Sprague Stamm, his brother Robert Leslie Sprague, his aunts, uncle, and grandparents.

He is survived by his wife, Linda Carol Curtis Sprague, his daughter Sujanna Louise Sprague Silva (Troy Silva h,) of Vista, California; his daughter Gina Ellen Sprague Dotson (Aaron Sramek h.) of San Diego, California; and his son David Samuel Sprague of Grandview, Missouri; his grandsons: Sage Brown (Juliette, f), Isaac Brown (Torianna, w.), Gavin Brown, and Kai Brown; and his granddaughter, Ava Dotson all of San Diego. And his sister-in-law, Richelle McLeod, and his nieces: Laura Sheaffer (Jonathan, h), Erica Sprague, and Christina Miller.

A graveside Military service will be held at 1:00 P.M. Saturday, November 2, 2024 in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery.  Interment will follow.  The family of Wayne David Sprague will receive friends immediately following the service from 1:30 – 3:00 P.M. at the First Christian Church Fellowship Hall, 519 Cedar St, Pleasant Hill, MO 64080.

In lieu of flowers, contributions “In Memory of Wayne David Sprague” are suggested to:  

International Bipolar Foundation (Click here)  or the American Cancer Society (Click here)

Arrangements: Wallace Funeral Home, Pleasant Hill, Missouri