Norman, I am sincerely sorry for the loss of your Mother.  I hope besides this you are doing well and have done well in life.  Please try to get in touch.
An old friend,

Marjorie Francis Behnken, vintage9@aol.com

David, Bruce, Norman and Joan,
Your Mother will always be loved and remembered by the entire Jack and Alma Murphey family. For myself; my wife Mary Ellen and our children, Patrick, Michael and Mary, we all will remember her with love.
When our children were in grade school   they served refreshments at one or Alma's parties. They have fun memories of Zada at the party. Our daughter, Mary, thought Zada had the neatest laugh.
Lloyd & Mary Ellen

Greg, Joan, Denny, Eric and family,
My sympathy and prayers to you.  Zada was such a wonderful person, and I enjoyed seeing her at various family gatherings.  She is such an inspiration.  May she rest in peace.

Kathy Ghahkenshah

It was a true honor and inspiration to love and have Aunt Zada as part of the family. I know my Dad admired her and when I got the chance to visit with her as an adult I understood why she was held in such high regard. Within 5 minutes of a visit,I knew I was not living up to my true potential. Thank You Aunt Zada for setting the example of being a better person everyday and giving so much of yourself. Your legacy of being the best you can be with a smile will live on. I love you -Say hello to all of your lovely sisters for me.

I count knowing Zada as one of the special blessings of my life.  She was strong, full of care and overflowing with observations about the world.  She was a member of the church which I served for 18 years, but she was the one who more often than not ministered to me.  I thank God for Zada.  Norm Linville

Greg:

So sorry to hear of the loss of your mother-in-law.  She sounded like an amazing person who made a difference.

With deepest sympathy,

Vickie Huffman

I will always remember Zada for her unshakable Christian faith, her love of her family, and her incredible wit. I can see her teaching the Sunday School class or offering a communion prayer during the church service at Maplewood Christian Church, her fingers deftly reading her notes that she had typed on her Braille Writer. She expected the best from people, and that was part of how she inspired so many of the rest of us.  She ended every conversation with "I'll see you" and how right she was.  Judi Linville, Bel Nor

My sister Joyce just called to let me know about Zada'a passing. She was one of my mother's best friends in Maplewood Christian Church and paid tribute at her funeral in 2003, saying they were like sisters. (My mother was Imogene Longwith.) They shared so much as the children of the two families grew up, but you probably don't remember me as I was the oldest Longwith daughter. She always recognized my voice even years later when I visited.I will always remember Zada as a remarkable, intelligent, and very special lady.

Joan, Bob and Bruce, Your mom was a proud and regal lady! Yet, she was as "down to earth" as anyone could be. She welcomed this (young at the time) southern girl into the family with open arms years ago! Her intuitive nature, knowledge and keen sense of humor never failed to amaze me! There will be a large, empty void on this planet without her....however, she is now communing with her loved ones who went on before her. I, too, know the sting of loss....just last year I lost my dad in May and my mom (45 days later) in June. The pain of loss never leaves your heart, however, with time it becomes less intense. May God Bless you all and support one another as never before! Micky, Kari and I send our love! Joan, please call me sometime (337-898-6649.

Aunt Zada will truly be missed by everyone whose life she touched.  To me, she was a second mother.  There was never a time in my life that she was not there and part of my family.

She shared with me her love of family, literature, music, politics and current events.  To this dayI marvel at her vast knowledge and limitless energy.

But what I will miss most is just being able to pick up the phone or drop by the house to talk for hours on end about everything and nothing.

She was truly loved and will be sorely missed.

My thoughts and prayers are with you all.

Dear Joan I was so sorry to hear of your mothers death. You were blessed to have her for so long.I'm sure you have many wonderful memories of your years together. god bless you, love you..Linda

I am sorry that I will not be able to be with you at this time.  Aunt Zada has always had a special place in my heart.  I have great childhood memories of all day visits with her at grandmothers house.  She was captive to my web of talk and other childish deeds. I admired her then from a child's view and that grew as I grew.  Smart gal  in many fields and about people in general. Her lack of physical sight gave her greater insight ---love her and will miss her....     love to all      Nancy K Moore

I will miss Zada very much.  She was a remarkable woman and a dear friend.  She was very proud of her family and told me many stories about everyone.  God bless you all.

I keep thinking of Aunt (not anut) Zada stories.  And I can hear her clearing her throat, irritated that many stories reference her blindness.  (I recognized as a child that meant she was irritated about something.)  That was a part of her that was a novelty to me, but she was also a huge role model to me.  She was first person in our family that I knew that graduated from college (did I mention with HONORS).  I knew of a few others who were teachers and doctors, but not as intimately as I knew her.  Few women graduated from college in that era.  A few of us have struggle through college and even graduate school, but I never sufficiently applied myself to anything that didn't interest me immensely and never achieved 'HONORS'.
 
As a child, I recognized her fierce independence and strength.  My mother and she were as different as they were alike.  My mother never left the farm to live 'where you could spit in your neighbor's window' as she would say (though I've never had the urge).  They both were very strong women, each with a love of reading.  Aunt Zada got audio books before the rest of us.  

I remember asking Aunt Zada a thousand questions.  She patiently answered my questions, showed me how she folded her money to know what denomination it was and how she could tell her coins apart.  "How did you take notes in college?" (Lug a huge 'portable' typewriter around that punched  braille.  How hard would you have to hit the keys, I think now???)  I remember talking non-stop, telling her stories about a new calf or kittens.  (Wonder where my daughter got that annoying trait as a child?)  I would get 'shut up' when Mother was around and they wanted to talk grown-up, sister talk.  But left alone, I remember jumping in her face from the arms of her chair chattering until she could bear it no more, and say, "Kathy, could you go someplace else and play for a while?"  I remember her rubbing her head, and I thought, "Poor Aunt Zada has a headache.  Maybe another story would help her forget it."  (How that mind movie plays from a different perspective now.)  I also remember the trick of playing so quietly under the table, that grownups forgot you were there.  I remember hearing some very interesting stuff not intended for my ears, though I don't remember any of it now.  

At the beginning of each new visit, Aunt Zada would pull me up to her, start at the top of my head and remark how tall I had gotten, then quickly flit her hands all over me, to my toes.  She always preface it by saying, "Come here and let me see you!"  That phrase puzzled me as a child.  (And I remember talking about 'seeing' things figuratively.)  She ALWAYS asked what the color my dress was.  I think I asked her why she wanted to know that and what it meant to her.  I remember her telling me one time that she remembered seeing 'shadows of light and dark' as a very young child.  She was always asking me to tell her what something looked like (the sky, a flower, a sunset).  I remember her saying one time she wanted to see a sunset.  It gave me a new appreciation of sunsets, which I plan my evenings around to this day.  

I always regarded her as a very intelligent woman with a witty sense of humor.  The last time I was with her, she still had the strong voice and mind I  remembered.  I enjoyed talking to her as an adult and hearing her opinions of things (of which she had a few). 

She is a person I value having known, and who had a part in making me who I am.

Kathy Kurz Stewart

Aunt Zada helped make this world a better place to live. A very special person in my life. She will be missed. Love, Gerry

Bob, Bruce, Joan, Norman, please accept my sympathy.   Aunt Zada was indeed a very special lady and blessed our family with her great spirit and joy.
I enjoyed so much the photo gallery.

Dear Joan, Bruce, and Bob,

It saddens me to hear of your mother's death.  I have more vivid memories of her than any other extended family members, I do believe.  I have relayed stories to my kids about her time and again and rarely does a friend or co-worker know me for long without hearing them as well.

She was someone special to me in almost a 'rock star' sense.  For one, she lived in St. Louis!  That big city that we visited from time to time to visit with you all.  Those visits might include a trip to the zoo, no less.  But I also remember sitting at the train station in Poplar Bluff waiting for her train to come in.  She would get off, carrying her large braille books / magazines, and wearily declare 'those had to be square wheels!'  I remember that phrase verbatim!  I also remember the large wagons with large blocks of ice on them at the train station.  That picture is framed with her, for some reason.  

My mother was so proud of her sister 'who graduated with HONORS' from college.  I've bragged about my aunt who never carried a cane because it would make her look handicapped, navigated the transportation system of a large city, worked . . . . . Oh, I asked her one time how she knew how to correct typing / spelling errors - she said she just made sure not to make them!  She said she memorized all the spelling of all medical terminology, because she didn't have a braille dictionary with those terms.  . . . AND, she graduated for Washington University WITH HONORS.  

I loved to have her read to me from one of her books.  It was magical!  She taught me braille, which I learned to read by sight . . . hmm.  I wrote her a few letters in braille and still have her replies.  She chided me for my spelling of the salutation in the letter saying, "I am NOT a nut!"  I was a little embarrassed, as I would be most of the time now, if not for spell check.  That last time I talked to her, she mentioned my venture with braille.  I laughed that I only learned it by sight to which she replied, "well, if you ever became blind, you'd at least have a start."  

I regret that distances keep us from visiting more.  You were all special to me and we all share a lot of the same memories.  Summers and Christmases always come to mind when I think of you all.  Oh, and the night Joan and I spent the night at Uncle Bud's and Aunt Kathryn's 'chicken house' temporary house while they built their new one.  We woke up to frost on the INSIDE of the windows!  Remember how Aunt Kathryn said "Jo-an" in two syllables!  

May God bless each of you through this transition and may you feel his embrace and peace.  

Kathy Kurz Stewart

Zada,
    Thank you for blessing our family with all your love. You have been a wonderful inspiration to me & I will always have a place in my heart for you. 

Your Son-in-Law
Greg Robert

OBITUARY

Zada L. Sparkman Albee

January 18, 1916 – October 21, 2011

Hoffmeister Colonial Mortuary

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