Nancy Sue Sparks, age 72, of Falls Church, Virginia, passed away unexpectedly on 24 February 2023. In celebration of a life well lived, her children share these stories of their mother.

Nancy was born in Washington, DC, second daughter to Wilbur and Elizabeth (Hartley) Sparks, growing up in Arlington, Virginia, attending Tuckahoe Elementary School, Williamsburg Junior High School and graduating from Yorktown High School in 1969. Her family attended Columbia Baptist Church, Falls Church, where Nancy was an active participant in youth groups, choir and international mission trips.

Her many life-long friends from those school days remember her as a leader in student activities, involved in many clubs as a committee or executive member; she certainly took the lead in organizing many events for students, fundraising for community charities, and organizing events around political issues of the day. At Yorktown, she was President of a number of clubs, a participant in Virginian Girl’s State, was a National Merit Semi-Finalist, Chair of the Leadership Conference, an Editor of the Yearbook, and a founding member of the Arlington Youth Council, all the while contributing articles to the student newspapers at Williamsburg and Yorktown. Nancy played the guitar, emulating the look, songs and political commitments of Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary.

Nancy initially attended Macalester College but then transferred after two years to the University of Pennsylvania. Her love of journalism and social commentary expanded exponentially with her immediate involvement on campus as the News Editor 1971-1973 for the student newspaper the Daily Pennsylvanian. For two years, Nancy covered university-student negotiations, city politics, national anti-war issues which were rumbling campus dynamics, and civil rights issues. In particular, her exposé of the Dental School stirred considerable controversy with her concluding comment that it offered a ‘fine service for some, but not for others’. Nancy earned her B.A. in Urban Studies, Political Science from Penn in 1973.

Not one to spin her wheels, Nancy then entered the University of Virginia Law School in the fall. While there, she was a member of Phi Delta Phi, the international legal fraternity, and graduated with a JD degree in 1976. Her first post was as a Judicial Law Clerk for Judge Clarence Newcomer, a Federal judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia for two years, 1976-1978. She then became an Associate in the law firm of Pepper Hamilton LLP in Philadelphia.

Nancy moved with her family in 1984 to Memphis to take up a position with Federal Express (FedEx), and ended up working for the company in progressively more senior positions for the next thirty-four years. From Memphis, she then served the company in Brussels, while taking the opportunity to give her two children a wonderful international experience. Nancy then moved to Washington, DC to work as the Managing Director of Regulatory Affairs for FedEx, negotiating the minefields and ins and outs of domestic and international policy/politics and the increasing globalization of the Aviation and Transportation industries.

Her responsibilities included providing legal support for postal and aviation regulation and other transportation-related requirements, along with supervising international and domestic environment, export-controls and economic sanctions, and restricted commodities matters [including the delicate issues of the shipping of body parts internationally and the problems of shipping wine across national boundaries]. Over the years, Nancy was the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including receiving FedEx’ Five Star Award four times, its highest award for employee excellence. Her many friends from her time with the company attest to her management skills, care for others, and her excellent level of professionalism and specialized knowledge.

Nancy was long involved in industry-wide associations and professional fora, where her colleagues and ‘adversaries’ acknowledged her negotiation skills yet caring personality. She served in the International Aviation Women’s Association, was a member of the ABA Forum on Air and Space Law, was a founding member of WILDS (Women in Logistics and Delivery Services), served as chair of the Industry Affairs Committee of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and was a member of the Board of Directors of the International Aviation Club of Washington.

Throughout her life Nancy continued her long-standing commitment to numerous domestic and international charities as fund raiser and donor while never failing to critiquing the failure of political leadership to address social injustice domestically and worldwide. At various times, she lived and worked in Philadelphia, Memphis, Jerusalem, Brussels, Washington DC, and Falls Church.

Her two children, Ben and Sarah, were always the center of her love and the home she built. She sought to give them a diverse breadth of education and international exposure so that they would be truly responsible global citizens, and was so proud of their accomplishments in the field of science. She enjoyed reading murder mysteries, travelling globally, endless crossword puzzles, decorating for the holidays so she could host great holiday parties, and spoiling her cats.

Nancy is survived by her two children, Benjamin D. Stanley and Sarah E. Stanley; her sister Sallie Sparks; and a niece Beth Sparks and nephew Britton Sparks.

Nancy Sue Sparks and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, though they did not know each other, shared many similar beliefs about justice and a number of mutual experiences of being women in the field of law. Nancy lived her life in sympathy with this oft-quoted saying of RBG: ‘Fight for the things that you care about. But do it in a way that will lead others to join you’. Her children give thanks for and celebrate a life well lived. 

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