John Sparrow, Sr.

John was born in Baltimore, Maryland to Henry C. Sparrow (d. 1976) and Irma M. Sparrow (d. 1974). He was one of 13 children including his one surviving sister, Gladys Skirka. John and his wife, Ellen Mae Sparrow were married February 7, 1959. They have five children, Cynthia Burke (Greg Burke), Jay Sparrow (Allyson Sears), Kevin Sparrow (Melissa Johnston), Monica Jung (John Jung) and Rodney Sparrow (Jennifer Sparrow). “Pop” had twelve grandchildren and thirteen great grandchildren. He attended Poly High School before enlisting in the US Army. He and his brothers worked for his father’s painting company as residential and commercial painters which included the Capitol Building in Washington, DC. He was employed by BGE for 35 years as a Construction Engineer before retiring. John and Ellen lived in Arbutus, Maryland for fifty years before moving to Manchester where they have lived for the past nine years. They enjoyed coaching bowling, traveling, gardening and parenting their children. He loved being involved with his family’s interests and accomplishments. Some of which include majorettes/parades, dance, little league baseball, lacrosse, football, softball, soccer, hunting and fishing. He was a coach for many of the sports teams in his community. He was also a coach for Women’s Fast Pitch Softball at CCBC Catonsville and Howard County’s Maryland Chill. In more recent years, he was well known for his glove repair as “The Glove Doctor”. His other interests were, baseball card and coin collecting, adult coloring, sudoku, jigsaw puzzles, reading, watching movies and shopping. His number one favorite pastime was talking. Admittedly, he was not a good listener. He said he was always two steps ahead, thinking about what he was going to say next. John was a member and had many friends at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Manchester, Maryland.

Family & friends may gather at the family owned & operated Ambrose Funeral Home, Inc., 1328 Sulphur Spring Rd., Halethorpe, MD for a public visitation on Monday, May 9th  from 6:00-8:00pm & Tuesday, May 10th  from 2:00-4:00pm & 6:00-8:00pm. A funeral service will be held at Holy Nativity Lutheran Church, 1200 Linden Ave., Baltimore, MD 21227 on Wednesday, May 11th at 10:00am. Interment will immediately follow at Loudon Park Cemetery, 3620 Wilkens Ave., Baltimore, MD 21229. Reception will follow at the American Legion, 1610 Sulphur Spring Rd. Halethorpe, MD 21227.

In lieu of flowers, donations in his name can be made to St. George’s Episcopal Church, PO Box 255 Manchester, MD 21074 or Maryland Chill Select Baseball and Softball, Inc. 5243 Kerger Road, Ellicott City, MD 21043.