How Faith, Infidelity, and Forgiveness Grew a Family—Not Once, but Twice

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This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories and we tell stories about everything here on this show from the arts to sports and from business to history and everything in between including your stories send them to OurAmericanStories.com they're some of our favorites and now we bring you our Women of True Grit series our friend Edie Hand has come across many women whose stories of hardship character and perseverance caused her to write a book called Women of True Grit now Edie is bringing some of those women along with many others to our airwaves today Edie brings us the story of Mary Sparks a tale of faith and family as told by her son Sparky here's Edie Mary Sparks exhibited strength of conviction throughout her life but oddly enough it all started with an affair a stolen baby and her catholic faith here's her son Sparky to recount his mother's tale I guess the time to start this story is in 1943 my mother fell in love with a married man who was about to ship off to the war Mary couldn't bear the idea of losing her love so she attempted to join the women's army corps a wax for sure and when she joined the wax she took her physical and found out she was pregnant my grandfather great police gentleman he shipped her to Chicago to a home for unwed mothers where she worked like a dog for several months and then had my sister my sister who always made fun of me growing up and told me I was adopted my grandmother took the train from Terre Haute, Indiana to Chicago to pick up my mother who had just had this child and my mother had been very weak and very really I think she they were they abused her from the standpoint of making her cook and clean for other people in this home so my mother and grandmother had put my sister up for adoption and the people were supposed to be there that afternoon to pick up my sister but on the way to the train station neither could shake the feeling that something just wasn't right and my mother said I can't give up this baby I just can't do it and my grandmother said well your father is not going to let us come home with a baby we have to give up this child and my mother said do you want to give up the child and my grandmother said no I don't want to and my grandmother who didn't speak English very well Polish was her first language and she said I very well Polish was her first language told the cab driver to turn around when they got to train station and they went back to this home walked in the door the people who were adopting my sister were there to pick her up and my mother just went in grabbed my sister and she and my grandmother ran down the steps back into the cab and fired off toward the train station my grandmother as they were running out grabbed all the paperwork she could get a hold of with both hands and held it into her and then they sorted it out on the train and and destroyed it but then they had Sparky's grandfather Mary's father to deal with but that wouldn't be much of a problem so then they got home to tear out my grandma just told him he was just going to get used to it a year or two later a World War II prisoner of war returned home to Indiana and began courting Mary but she felt like she had to hide her child out of shame there's several stories of her hiding my sister from him when he would come pick her up for a date my my grandmother and grandfather ran a boarding house and while that provided useful cover for a while it only had to fail once for the gig to be up after they got serious and they started dating my dad came in one day unannounced and there was my sister in a playpen and my dad said who is this baby and my mother started crying and said this is my child and my dad said well who's the father and my mother said he is gone away my dad looked down at her and said well this child needs a father this child needs a father so I guess we need to get married Mary and that's how he proposed to mom my sister found out all of this because this was a big secret in our family we didn't know this story until my sister when she was about 22 tried to get a passport and she said I was born in Terre Haute, Indiana and they told her called her back the next day and said Miss Bower you were born in Chicago what you were born at a home for unwed mothers and my my sister who had tormented me all my life telling me I was adopted we you know and then we started finding out all this story I always thought that my sister was treated a little bit differently than the other kids and both all the brothers and sisters on the Sparks side of the family 11 of them and all the brothers and sisters on the Cummins which is they had Americanized from Kaminsky side of the family kept this a secret from all his kids growing up nobody knew and nobody needed to know his parents didn't want any undue attention and more than that his father wanted his sister Sharon to have a loving home full of love conviction and grief and more of this remarkable story an amazing love story our Women of True Grit series continues Mary Sparks story after these messages. Folks if you love the great American stories we tell and love America like we do we're asking you to become a part of the Our American Stories family if you agree that America is a good and great country please make a donation a monthly gift of seventeen dollars and seventy six cents is fast becoming a favorite option for supporters go to our American stories dot com now and go to the donate button and help us keep the great American stories coming that's our American stories dot com. Tired of spills and stains on your sofa wash away your worries with Anabay. Anabay is the only machine washable sofa inside and out where designer quality meets budget friendly prices that's right sofas start at just six hundred ninety nine dollars enjoy a no risk experience with pet friendly stain resistant and changeable slip covers made with performance fabric experience cloud-like comfort with high resilience foam that's hypoallergenic and never needs fluffing the sturdy steel frame ensures longevity and the modular pieces can be rearranged anytime shop washable sofas dot com for up to sixty percent off site wide backed by a thirty day satisfaction guarantee if you're not absolutely in love send it back for a full refund no return shipping or restocking fees every penny back upgrade now at washable sofas dot com offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply what's good fam the black effect podcast festival is back and taking over pullman yards in atlanta on saturday april 26th and it's gonna be a whole vibe doors open at 11 a.m so you already know it's an all-day celebration of black excellence and we're partnering with nissan to bring you an event you won't want to miss because it's all going down in the nissan lounge if you haven't seen the all-new 2025 nissan kicks or the nissan rogue yet this is your moment from available intelligent around view monitor to available bows personal plus sound system the all-new nissan kicks is ready whether you're cruising through the city or hitting the highway the nissan rogue s is more affordable than crv and rav4 with available hd enhanced intelligent around view monitor with moving object detection and a standard vc turbo engine so pull up to the nissan lounge to explore their cutting edge features snap some epic pics and see which ride matches your energy music love culture and community all in one place so come through show out and make some memories tickets are on sale now at black effect dot com slash podcast festival every morning brings a fresh new energy this is today and no matter what the day holds we come to the today show for all of it when things are tough we talk about it when there's something to figure out we dig into it and when there's joy we celebrate it because today is where it's all happening we get the best start to every morning because we start it together watch the today show with savannah guthrie and craig melvin weekdays at 7 a.m on nbc thumbtack presents the ins and outs of caring for your home out indecision overthinking second guessing every choice you make in plans and guides that make it easy to get home projects done out beige on beige on beige in knowing what to do when to do it and who to hire start caring for your home with confidence download thumbtack today this message is for you you want to lose weight and get healthy and you want help to know where to start and what to do day by day so you absolutely 100 get fast results step by step i'm carl deichler ceo of body right now i'm inviting a hundred thousand people to get the results they want without expensive equipment or the hassle of a gym it's the annual love your body event last year we helped thousands of people succeed and this year we're helping even more so it's time for you to join us and really follow through for just 50 cents a day we'll help you choose the best fitness program for you plus an easy to follow nutrition plan and if you don't lose up to 10 to 15 pounds in your first month you get your money back do you want to get results working out right at home in around a half hour a day for less than a cup of coffee join the love your body event now to get this special 50 cents a day offer go to body.com and get signed up that's body with an i.com and we're back with our american stories and our women of her grit series and mary spark's story her boyfriend when he found out that her daughter born out of wedlock didn't have a father proposed on the spot and raised the daughter as his own now we bring you the rest of mary's story of faith and family told again by her son sparky here's edie the sparks family had no shortage of children seven to be exact and as good catholics you'd expect that mary and jesse did their best to raise their kids well with faith and family at the heart of all they did but in 1973 that all would be put to the test i was a student at the university alabama it was on a thursday morning in the spring i get a call from my mother and my mother said i need you home and i said well okay uh spring break is over is in a couple of months and i'm planning on coming home to the farm and she said no i need you home today i said what's going on is dad okay your father's fine and i need you home and i said mama i've got a test tomorrow friday i said i've got a test she said tell your professor that you've got a family emergency and you need to come home i need you to be with me for a few days are you sick no and dad's okay yeah what's the what will i tell him the emergency is i'm sure if you just tell him there's a family emergency he'll let you take your test next week i had the toughest professor on just about on campus teaching music history dr nicolosi i i knew i was dead that afternoon went to see him and i said i have a family emergency i'll be glad to take the test right now but my mother has asked for me to be home in indiana and i've got to leave and he said you just take the test next week and don't worry about it if this is for your mother and it's a family emergency then you need to go i was sure that that man did not have a heart up until that point but i became convinced that maybe he was okay got in my car drove through the night you know i was in shock the whole thing when i got in the car i mean i was so relieved when i got there to see all my brothers were okay because i knew something happened to somebody and she just wasn't telling me i mean i was pretty sure i was coming up there for a funeral of some kind what a relief it was to find out that wasn't the case and yet there was still that burning question that even sparky's siblings were asking why are you home i said i don't know mama wants me home what's going on she said well daddy the last two nights daddy slept in the barn what is going on we don't know so we had this big breakfast my mother had this huge plate of bacon and eggs and ham and she said here take this out to the barn for your father and i said why is he sleeping out in the barn are you two getting divorced she said we're catholic we don't get divorced take this out to your father i said okay i'm headed out to the barn hey daddy said i thought you might be coming home i said what's going on he said i'm sure your mother will tell you when she's ready for you to know little did sparky know that he wasn't just going to find out what was going on but also the depth of his mother's convictions and the lengths that she would go to in order to follow through with them so after breakfast and clean up everybody's out doing their chores and mother said come with me we've got to go somewhere we got in the car i said please tell me what's going on she said your father's had an affair with this young lady and he's gotten her pregnant i need to talk her into giving us this baby so i can raise it right so get in the car let's go she said i just don't want you to say anything so we drove to this lady's house young lady it's a small town i knew her and uh we got to her house her apartment and she answered the door she said what do you want my mother said i'm mary sparks you've been having an affair with my husband i understand you're pregnant she said yes i am and i want to talk to you please may we come in she said this is my son sparky she said i know him i said well we went in we sat down and she said so here's the deal she said i will pay for all your expenses she said i'll give you three thousand dollars today when the child is born i'll give you five thousand dollars when the child is born and you sign the paper for us to adopt him she said how do you know it's going to be a boy and she said we're sparks us that's all we have she said i'll raise him right if you ever want to be in his life you can be and she said i know you probably don't feel too good about what you've done but i'm not worried about that she said that's for god to decide judge not me she said will you pay my rent she said yes i'll pay all your expenses pay your hospital bills i'll pay everything and when the child is born and we adopt and i know you're okay then it ends and we will take the child to raise and i'll raise it as my my own child she said all right she said have you got the money now all right she said have you got the money now she said of course i got it right here in my purse and i said i've got the paperwork we signed it we went by the attorney's office had him notarize it that's the way my brother jake came into the world he knew he was adopted from day one all my brothers did but we also knew that we would treat him just like any other brother and we did once again the sparks family in the face of infidelity was given a gift and due to their faith took a child in and accepted it without question as their own years later i went to play golf with my dad i said i gotta ask you did you and mom resume relations with each other he said of course he said it took two or three months but your mother was tough as nails but she always said that god would judge me it wasn't her place to judge me and we were married i was her husband she was my wife that's just the way it was there was a moment in time that i forgave your mother and years later she forgave me and thanks to edie han for the work there and thanks for sparky what a remarkable story and mary sparks what a remarkable woman and great job on the production robbie just a beautiful job and by the way our lives are all messy but if this is any testimony to what a true christian walk looks like this is it and it's forgiveness folks and it's hard to do but it's what obedient people of faith do and my goodness in other families this would have been a divorce and a mess and who knows what would have happened to that child and in this family the child is loved i'll raise him right mary spark said to this poor young girl life's tough but how you deal with these circumstances we can learn from stories like these and the relationship got healed the wife forgave he forgave himself too because in the end the guy's got to forgive himself and of course their god well forgave both of them mary sparks his story on our american stories tired of spills and stains on your sofa wash away your worries with anabay anabay is the only machine washable sofa inside and out where designer quality meets budget-friendly prices that's right sofa start at just $699 enjoy a no-risk experience with pet-friendly stain-resistant and changeable slip covers made with performance fabric experience cloud-like comfort with high resilience foam that's hypo 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