Shirley Ray Sparling

Dr. Shirley Ray Sparling was born in Detroit, Michigan on October 28, 1929 to Mignon and Harvey Sparling. She died June 28, 2024 at Canterbury Woods, Pacific Grove, California from complications of living life to the fullest.

Dr. Sparling received her bachelor’s and Master of Science degrees at Iowa State College in Ames and her PhD at the University of California, Berkeley. She was an instructor at Central College in Pella, Iowa, at the University of British Columbia, and at UC Santa Barbara. From 1963 through 1994, Dr. Sparling was Professor of Botany at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. She specialized in marine phycology, the study of algae, ranging in size from the smallest phytoplankton to the largest seaweeds.

Her volunteer activities included interpretive walks for the Sierra Club and the Native Plant Society. Shortly after Holloway Garden was established in Montaña de Oro State Park, Shirley led the group that maintained and planted the garden. Most recently, she was a guide at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, at Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, and at the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary in Pacific Grove.

Dr. Sparling’s extensive travels had a biological emphasis and included Costa Rica, Patagonia, Australia (the Great Barrier Reef), Japan, New Zealand, Europe, Tahiti, Alaska, the Amazon River basin, and Iceland. Detailed trip accounts delighted readers with her infectious enthusiasm for the planet’s biodiversity.

Shirley was a conservationist by example, contributing her time and resources to numerous environmental causes. Anyone compromising her ecological ethos was subject to a gentle reminder of their transgression, such as the time she asked a participant in one of her nature walks not to discard non-native apple seeds on the trail.

Shirley is survived by friends, colleagues, and the three generations of her family that followed hers, including the descendants of her deceased sisters Jacqueline Sparling Betz (Gerhardt), Barbara Sparling Doyle (Vincent), Betty Sparling Huff (Russell), and her brother Harvey Sparling (Virginia).

Dr. Sparling was a lifelong learner whose greatest loves were educating others and volunteering. She trod a path of educational pursuits, travel, and other opportunities for independence that were not commonly afforded to women of her generation.

Shirley did not want a memorial service. The Paul Mortuary in Pacific Grove is taking care of arrangements, and her ashes will be scattered at sea.