Ryan Sparks Funeral and Family Support
By now, the word has spread far and wide that the world has lost an amazing Army veteran, husband, father, friend, and confidant. Through absolutely no fault of his own, Ryan suffered a fatal accident yesterday. Our family is grieving this senseless and tragic loss, trying to understand why he had to leave us so soon.
Ryan devoted his life to helping veterans all through the state of California and beyond. He made it his life mission to serve others by helping with veteran homelessness and navigating the VA healthcare mission. His true passion was in ending veteran suicide in which he worked tirelessly any time day or night. He was always first to jump in and give an American Legion Riders Chapter 31 motorcycle escort to fallen veterans. He has worked in veterans cemeteries along the central coast clearing and cleaning grave sites of forgotten veterans from decades past. Nobody was ever left behind on Ryan's watch.
Ryan now tragically leaves behind a wife and 2 kids. Those that know Stephanie, know she was an incredibly devoted wife and mother. She and Ryan were soul mates, as close as any two people could ever be. This was the couple you knew would be together until death do them part. They just celebrated their 6 year anniversary last week Death was not supposed to have parted them this young and this early.
Stephanie will need time off work to grieve and support the two boys. Their sons will need financial support until they are 18, which is difficult to do on just one income on the Central Coast. Funeral expenses need to be covered, as well as the ability for bills, utilities, and the mortgage, car payment, and household expenses to get paid long enough for Stephanie to get back on her feet and back to work at her full-time medical job. Direct donations appreciated to her or the family to give to her, or via this GoFundMe. She alone will be the lone recipient of these funds as she is Ryan's legal next of Kin that needs to handle the expenses going forward. We have a very tight-knit family circle, but we are reaching out for help as we cannot do this alone.