Valetta Elaine Darr Sparlin

Valetta Elaine Darr Sparlin never wrote her autobiography, but if she had it would read of a courageous mother, a loving wife, and an artist who shared her life through beautiful, nationally recognized quilts. Among Elaine's greatest accomplishments were her 78-year marriage to Sidney Merle Sparlin and rearing her two children, Don Merle Sparlin of Rolla, Missouri, and daughter Sue Elaine Sparlin of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Born the 18th day of February 1915, to Mamie Emaline Sala Darr and Andy Dennie Darr, Elaine grew up with siblings Loise Darr Cowan Koppenaal, Wayne Burl Darr, and Joe Darr, in rural Seneca, Oklahoma. It was in Seneca, Missouri, where she met and married her husband, Sidney Merle Sparlin, and where they had their first home. In the late 1940s they moved to Lenexa, Kansas, where Elaine was an active community member for 57 years before moving to assisted living in Leawood, Kansas, for her last seven years.

She graduated from teachers' college in southern Missouri before her marriage. In addition to nurturing her family, Elaine worked as a telephone operator and bank teller for several years. Throughout her life Elaine quilted. What began as the necessity of having warm blankets in winter grew into her enduring, inspired art. Elaine once told a reporter that her grandmother taught her to sew at the age of five and she probably "wasn't more than 10 or 12" when she pieced her first quilt. She was known by quilters across the country as a mother of the modern wall hanging and story quilts. Her picture quilts and wall hangings depict everyday scenes often from her own life in appliqué form and are intricate in every detail down to the tiny embroidered shoelaces, miniature quilts on the clothesline, and subtle silhouettes stitched into the background.

Elaine was a member of several local, regional, state and national quilt guilds and was featured numerous times in quilt shows and competitions across Kansas and the United States. One of her quilts was chosen for the cover of Quilt Magazine. She was commissioned to create a king-sized artist’s quilt which toured across the United States in Neiman-Marcus store galleries. She was an invited lecturer to many quilting guilds, not just because of her artistry and innovations in quilting, but also because she was an excellent public speaker gifted with great good humor.

Elaine used her art in her service to her church, designing and quilting vestments for the minister and banners for the chancel. She served as president of the Lenexa United Methodist Women, sang in the choir, and was an active member of the Rainbow fellowship group.

She was preceded in death by her parents and siblings. Surviving are her husband Sidney Merle Sparlin; son Don Merle Sparlin and his wife Linda of Rolla, Missouri; daughter Sue Elaine Sparlin of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; 5 granddaughters and their husbands; 7 great-grand-children; 2 great-great-grand-daughters; and many nieces and nephews and their families who were devoted to her.

Elaine shared her loving smile, quick wit, and her passion for books and the creative arts with the countless friends who loved her and will miss her.

Funeral service will be 10:00 a.m., Monday, February 13, 2012, at Lenexa United Methodist Church. Graveside service will be held at 4:00 p.m., Monday in Seneca Missouri.