RESERVE CAPTAIN DENNIS B. SPARKS

SDPD 1976 - 10/31/1988

1942 - 10/31/1988

THE THIN BLUE LINE

Dennis Sparks, 46, captain in San Diego police reserves

Evening Tribune (San Diego, CA) - Wednesday, November 2, 1988

A rosary will be recited for Dennis Sparks, 46, of Clairemont, a captain in the San Diego Police Department reserves, at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at Clairemont Mortuary. A Mass will be said at 9 a.m. Friday at St. Catherine Laboure Catholic Church.

He died Monday morning in a car accident on a Los Angeles freeway as he was driving to his job as a superintendent for the California Department of Transportation.

Mr. Sparks was born in Lone Pine, Calif. He moved to San Diego in 1955 and graduated from University High School and Mesa Junior College.

He served in the Air Force from 1961 to 1965. He went to work for Caltrans in 1967 and was promoted to superintendent in Los Angeles in 1984.

Mr. Sparks joined the San Diego Police reserves in 1976 and became a captain in 1984.

In his service as a reserve, he helped establish the reserve officer training program, worked at the scene of the 1978 Pacific Southwest Airlines crash in North Park, and was in charge of reserve officers at the 1985 Normal Heights fire and at the recent Del Cerro fire. He also was assigned to downtown and beach-area patrol teams and worked undercover for the vice unit.

In 1983, Mr. Sparks received the rare Exceptional Performance citation for his involvement in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium's special events.

Mr. Sparks is survived by his wife, Debra; sons, Brian, 19, and Chad, 12; mother, Mary Warren of Tennessee; stepfather, Joseph Teteroult of Idaho; and sister, Jeanne Allen of Ohio.

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