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Hanged Census worker had local ties as Boy Scout leader

Staff photo by JAY NOLAN

Grant Martin says his friend, Bill Sparkman, "was a good friend to everyone he knew."

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By BAIRD HELGESON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 25, 2009

TAMPA - Grant Martin says he began to tear up when he read an e-mail Thursday night titled "Hey Scouters!"

A friend had forwarded an old message from fellow Boy Scout leader Bill Sparkman, who was found hanged in rural Kentucky in mid-September, possibly while working for the U.S. Census Bureau. Someone apparently scrawled the word "Fed" on his chest with a felt-tip pen.

Friends who originally received the message sent it to others after word spread of Sparkman's death, adding their own reflections on his life.

Martin got up and hugged his wife after reading it.

"It just hit me," he said today, tearing up again. "It just really hit me."

Sparkman grew up and became an Eagle Scout in Mulberry. Sparkman and Martin, also an Eagle Scout, met while working at Flaming Arrow Scout Reservation in Lake Wales in the early 1980s.

Martin said he was the more athletic of the two, the one who liked to rough it up. Sparkman was artistic, a guy who reveled in performing campfire skits that left people howling.

"We were very different, but we brought out the best in each other," said Martin, a vice president with the Tampa Bay History Center. "When we got together, we were just good friends."

While the nation fixates on the mysterious nature of Sparkman's death, area Scout leaders remembered a man they once knew as "Fe Fe," for his poodle-like curls.

Sparkman earned the nickname while serving as equipment manager for the football team at Vanderbilt University. He had "Fe Fe" on his license tag when he lived in Florida, friends recalled. After he became a professional Scout, he changed the tag to "Eagle 4."

Martin served as a character reference when Sparkman adopted his son, Josh, now in his early 20s. Sparkman was not married.

"He always went out of his way to help people, so I was glad to help him," Martin said. "He was a good friend to everyone he knew."

Sparkman's work with the Scouts took him to Kentucky in the early 1990s, friends said.

At some point, he left fulltime work with the Scouts and became a substitute teacher in Laurel County. He also helped at an after-school daycare program at Johnson Elementary School. He did some work collecting Census information for extra money.

"For a guy who wouldn't hurt a flea, it's such a tragedy." Martin said.

Adding to the heartbreak, Sparkman recently survived a bout with cancer, friends said.
Louis LeBlanc met Sparkman at Flaming Arrow in 1984.

"My time working with Bill was a big part of my decision to go to work for the Boy Scouts when I graduated," LeBlanc said via e-mail. "He has made an incalculable impact on my life and countless others. He will be truly missed."

Mark Griffin, council executive for the Boy Scouts of America Blue Mountain Council, originally forwarded the e-mail that Martin, LeBlanc and others received.

"I am so sad today, but I am glad for the memories of Bill, for all the good he did and tried to do in this world," Griffin wrote. "I remember that he got the highest score ever on Pac-Man at the pizza place in Mulberry."

In an interview, Griffin said Sparkman was on his mind around the time of his death.

Griffin is at the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico leading a conference to get children better connected to nature.

At the conference, everybody gets a block of wood to hold up their name card.

Over the years, people have written their names on the blocks.

One morning in September, Griffin noticed a familiar name on his block: "Bill Sparkman Gulf Ridge Tampa, FL Key-3 Aug 86."

"I took a photo of it to send to Bill," Griffin said.

Two days later, the media reported that witnesses found Sparkman's body hanged from a tree next to a Kentucky cemetery. He was 51.

Authorities are looking into whether Sparkman's death was a murder, a suicide or possibly an accident.

Sparkman was found hanging from a tree with a noose around his neck, yet his feet were in contact with the ground, according to Kentucky State Police. The preliminary cause of death was asphyxiation, authorities said.

The FBI is investigating whether he was a victim of anti-government sentiment or perhaps he stumbled upon a drug-making operation or a marijuana farm.

The Gulf Ridge Council of Boy Scouts of America will have a reception for area Eagle Scouts this weekend at the Tampa Palms Golf & Country Club.

Martin hopes talk turns to Sparkman and that they can come up with a lasting way to remember his contributions.

"He gave so much to the Scouts," Martin said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Reporter Baird Helgeson can be reached at (813) 731-1076.

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