I am sad to report that long term member of vortex-l, Fred Sparber,
died yesterday morning, September, 9, 2009. Fred was a prolific
contributor to this list, and his many contributions taught me much
physics, and continually sparked the list with creativity. His
fertile mind produced an endless steam of ideas to solve the energy
crisis, long before it was generally recognized as a crisis. It was
a joy to awake each morning to see what was on the list. You never
new when you awoke what kind of exciting new physics concepts vortex
might have in store for the day, and Fred was a major force in that.
He was one of the rare breed that not only "did the math, but
provided the math. Despite his fertile imagination and creativity,
his ideas typically had the solid grounding of an engineer's
perspective. He was always quick to extend his help to others. I
considered him a personal friend, and extend my condolences to his
family and many friends. He has been missed here for a long time.
Below is quoted his obituary, which recalls some of the fond memories
of stories Fred told here, and tells to some degree who Fred was and
his contributions to his country.
Sparber - Frederick John Sparber (scientist, inventor, thinker,
humorist) joined Toni, "the love of my life", in Heaven at sunrise on
9/9/09. He was born March 29, 1933, in Cannonsburg, PA. As a
Pennsylvania farm boy, Freddie grew up with five brothers and five
sisters in challenging depression-era conditions in Linesville, PA.
He hand-milked Holsteins twice a day from age 10 to 17 and had many
Tom Sawyer-style adventures crossing dark woods to listen to "the
Shadow" on radio, swimming in creeks, raiding melon patches and
tipping outhouses (some while occupied). He proudly boasted he was
in the top third of his grade school class and "the other two-thirds
of the class were Beverly and Frankie." His grandfathers had fought
for this country in the French & Indian, Revolutionary and Civil Wars
and he traded school for the Army at 17. The Korean war broke out
while he was in basic, but he was one of two picked from 1000
recruits for their intelligence and sent for training in radio
communications. He was stationed at Ft. Knox, Killeen TX., and
Sandia Base. While at Killeen he probably held the world's record
for out running a two-ton atomic artillery shell mounted on a 4-wheel
dolly (~ 15 kiloton yield) in a sloping tunnel. I t was one that
President Truman was thinking about using in Korea. When it hit the
dirt outside the tunnel it rolled over, but didn't detonate. But the
military brass almost did when he was investigated for not knowing
the laws of momentum at the time. During his hitch in the Army
Signal Corps (Armed Force Special Weapons Project) he met Toni
Peralta of Belen. After marriage they built their dream home in
Belen and Fred continued to work for the National Defense as a "Cold
War Veteran" in weaponry and the space race at Sandia National Labs.
He accrued 7 patents -- one of which is for holding the power levels
constant over decades of space flight for Pioneer 10 and Voyager 1
and 2 trips through the solar system. Truly passionate for
discovery, his Belen basement was a science lab for everything from
energy conversion experiments to gopher annihilation strategies and a
gas-powered pogo stick. He and Toni moved to Albuquerque in 2004 and
continued to direct physics experiments and collaborate with
scientist friends until the last few weeks of his life. But his
greatest passion was always his family-- daughter Lynda and her
husband, Lew Witz, and grandkids Anya, Gregory, Madalyn, Josef and
Elias. Fred's life and last days were enriched by his adored
"Peralta Girls", his own brothers and sisters, his "angel"
caretakers Pearl, Geri, Francine and Leigh, and his certain faith in
God: " I look forward to spending forever lying next to her (Toni).
The more I know physics, the more I understand all that...the
Universal pervasive force. Materialism is almost a mirage. FJS"
Donations in lieu of flowers can be made to Albuquerque's Roadrunner
Food Bank, which helps feed children facing hunger like Freddie once
did. A viewing will be held at Romero Funeral Home Chapel, on
Friday, September 11, at 5:00 p.m. with a rosary to be recited at
6:00 p.m. A final visitation will be held at Our Lady of Belen
Catholic Church, on Saturday, September 12, at 9:30 a.m. with a
Funeral Mass to be celebrated at 10:00 a.m. Interment will follow at
Our Lady of Belen parish cemetery. Sign Frederick’s online register
book at www.romerofuneralhomenm.com.
Romero Funeral Home
609 N. Main St., Belen, NM.
(505) 864-8501
Best regards,
Horace Heffner
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/
