Sparks, W. Maynard

W. Maynard Sparks (1906-1999) was an Evangelical United Brethren bishop. He graduated from Lebanon Valley College in 1927, United Theological Seminary in 1930, and from the University of Pittsburgh in 1936. He was licensed as a Quarterly Conference minister in 1919, granted a license to preach in 1923 by the Allegheny Conference of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, and ordained by that conference in 1930. In 1931 he married Blanche M. Frank. Sparks pastored for sixteen years in western Pennsylvania and then elected Superintendent of the Allegheny Conference of the Evangelical United Brethren Church in 1946. He served in this position until 1950. In 1950 he was elected to the faculty of Lebanon Valley College to serve as Assistant Professor of Religion. In 1958 he was elected bishop and assigned to the Western Area where he resided in Sacramento, California. Sparks later served in the Seattle Area. Sparks also served overseas in Sierra Leone (1961-1967), Germany and Switzerland (1965), and Brazil (1967). He was also a member of the Commission on Church Union. Sparks died August 17, 1999.