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Alex Sprangers Obituary
But the greatest love in Alex's short life, the one that gave him the most joy, was his beautiful daughter, Alexanndrea. She was his entire world and anyone who had the pleasure to see them together would see a love between a father and a daughter like no other. Even in his final days of battling cancer, nothing could bring a smile to his face as quickly as when he would open his eyes and see his daughter standing beside him, waiting to give daddy a kiss. Cancer may have taken his body, but it will never take away his spirit. His spirit is alive in the beautiful blue eyes of his daughter Alexanndrea, and in everyone whose life he touched.
Alex is survived by his daughter: Alexanndrea; his father: Tom Sprangers of Gresham; his mother: Mary (nee Vosters) Brennan of Kaukauna; two brothers: Calvin Sprangers of Denver and Jonathan Brennan of Kaukauna; a sister: Brittany Sprangers of Oshkosh; his maternal grandmother: Priscilla Vosters of Kimberly; his paternal grandparents: Roger and Vanice Sprangers of Darboy; Alexanndrea's mother: Laundi Keepseagle of Gresham; and several aunts and uncles: Sue (Gary) Van Nuland, Cindy (Rick) Pynenberg, Sally (Jack) Driscoll, Dianne (Jeff) Hietpas, Debbie (Dave) Austin-Johnson, Ken Sprangers, Keith (Wendy) Sprangers, Dennis (Tina) Sprangers, Diane (Bob) Arnoldussen, Linda (Jim) Roovers, Doug (Jackie) Sprangers, Christine (Todd )Hartjes, and Ryan (Christy) Sprangers. There are also many cousins, other relatives, and friends. Alex was preceded in death by his maternal grandfather: John Vosters.
A memorial service for Alex will be held at 5:00 PM on Sunday afternoon, May 6, 2012 at the Fargo Funeral Home in Kaukauna. Friends may call at the funeral home on Sunday from 2:00 PM until the time of the memorial. Online condolences may be expressed at www.wichmannfargo.com.
Alex- You'll be in our hearts from this day on - now and forever more!
Everyone, please carry a little bit of Alex with you to make the world a better place.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Memories and Condolences
for Alex Sprangers
Larry and Nancy Novak
May 7, 2012
Tom, Mary and family,
While the loss of a loved one is never easy, even when anticipated, it is most certainly the hardest when they are taken from us too soon. Your recent loss of your son who has left us at such a youthful age is certainly in the category of those hard losses for which there is so painful a reminder of what might have been.
We offer our sincere condolence and deepest sympathy on your loss. May the outpouring of sympathy, the kind acts of friends and strangers and the comfort in knowing that your loss is felt by many, help you through this difficult time.
I ask for God's blessings on you and your wonderful family. May you find the courage and strength to move forward in peace and confidence and in knowing that his was a life well-lived.
May 7, 2012
Tom, Mary and Family,
I was deeply sadden when I heard the news your son Alex passed away. Please know that we are thinking of you through these difficult days.
Thoughts and prayers are with you.
Joan (Ludes)& Tom Zierler
May 6, 2012
Dear Tom, Mary and the Sprangers Family
I am deeply saddened to hear about the loss of your wonderful Alex at such a young age. I don't understand why things like this happen, but my hope is that the strength of your family, the love you have for each other and the joy reflected in and through Alex's amazing smile and life, are the very things that will hold and carry you through your grief and sadness. I pray for peace as Alex lives on in your memories and the life of his beautiful daughter Alexanndrea.
Tina (Wydeven) Neely
Kurt Van Auken
May 6, 2012
Alex was truly amazing, it was a privilege to have known someone as amazing as him.
May 6, 2012
Mary & family---I am so sorry for your loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with you. Hold close all the wonderful memories and be proud of the wonderful person Alex was.
Jerry & Clare Zimmerman
Sara (Williamson) Schlieve friend of John P., old neighbor of Diann and Jeff
May 1, 2012
My thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time. May God grant you comfort and peace. Alex is now an angel among all of you! With sympathy,
Angela Bakken
May 1, 2012
Calvin, just wanted to let you know again that you and your family will be in our thoughts and prayers.
Angela and family
MKP
May 1, 2012
I am so sorry for your loss. Alex, I am sure, has that same great smile now in heaven. Take comfort that he is at peace. I will keep his loved ones in my prayers.
May 1, 2012
I am so sorry to hear of your loss. You are in my thoughts and prayers.
Mary and Ted Wydeven
Diane & Randy Hermsen
May 1, 2012
Our prayers are with Alex's family. May you find peace in your faith on the difficult journey.
Randy and Diane (Kilsdonk) Hermsen
May 1, 2012
Mary, I didn't ever meet or know your son, but I wish I would have. What a beautiful obituary. I can see where his smile would be a magnet to the kids and how it would indeed light up a room. Rick and I feel so bad for your loss. No mother should have to go through the loss of a child. Please know that you, Dennis and your family are in our thoughts and prayers. Take care, Marilyn and Rick Seitzer
Vicki Vosters-VandenHeuvel
April 30, 2012
Hello Cousin Mary, My parents (Tom and Donna) called me tonight and shared about your loss of Alex. My heart breaks with yours. I don't even know what to say and I cannot even imagine what Alex and your whole family has been through. You will be held close in my thoughts and prayers and what a precious blessing that you have in his little girl. Many hugs to all of you...
Mandy
April 30, 2012
What an amazing tribute to Alex and his daughter. Thoughts and prayers to everyone who loved Alex. He will be missed by so many people.
MaryBeth and Leon Lipp
April 30, 2012
We're so sorry for your loss. Alex was a great young man. He was wonderful friend to our sons. I know he will be greatly missed. Hugs to your entire family.
Stephanie
April 30, 2012
It was a pleasure being able to take care of Alex and get to know him. I'm so sorry for your loss. Find peace in knowing he's no longer suffering. You're in my thoughts and prayers.
Christine Hartjes
April 30, 2012
A Tribute to a Spirited Fighter, Alex
You started bringing joy to every family get-together when you were barely three, spinning in Ring-Around-the-Rosie circles with Calvin on summer afternoons. But that was only the beginning of your sunshine and we all knew it, even then. With an impish grin, you chased little Brittany in and around the pea patch in the garden, waded up to your ankles in the backyard creek, splashing anyone who got too close. There is a light around you, a warmth that stayed with you as you grew, a halo of kindness that followed you through middle school awkwardness and high school hippie curls, followed you into fatherhood and even recently, in the absence of hair, the halo of light remains, that extra bit of blue sky that shines from your eyes on even the darkest of days.
We all thought that you would go to college to be an elementary teacher after high school, Alex. Everyone always noticed how great you were with kids, even when you were just a kid yet yourself. At every family get-together, you had four young cousins chasing you in circles around Grandma and Grandpa's backyard, weaving in and out of the green leaves of the apple trees. In addition to the kids chasing you, there was usually one hanging like a monkey off your back (Alyssa) and another pulling the bottom of your pants leg (Emily). Others hung off your arms waiting to be tickled or hoping you would hang them upside down by one leg or spin them in airplane circles. They fought over you, couldn't get enough of you. None of us could. You were always smiling. Always kind. Always ready to help, always thinking about how to make someone else smile more or give someone a hand carrying a plate of food.
Being surrounded by little kids was never a chore for you; it was when you were in your element on those summer afternoons at Grandma's. Who was laughing harder: you or the kids? It was always hard to tell. Your ability to interact with children was a gift back then: so natural and fun-loving, so compassionate. It is still one of your many gifts. How lucky Dre is to have you as a father, to have all of that light all to herself, to share in that aura.
Even though you didn't go to college to be a teacher, you didn't need to. You have a wide and listening classroom every day, whether on Facebook or CaringBridge, whether in person or in our hearts. Every day through this horrible and difficult journey for you, every time we received new updates of hope or tried to deny the despair, you taught us a little something: about resilience, about honor, about living.
God did want you to be a teacher, but just not of little children. He wanted you to be a teacher to all of us, and you have been. You teach us every day how to be strong, keep fighting, be humble and compassionate, how to see our own lives for the gifts that they are. You teach us how precious life is, and how much we take for granted every single day. Because of you, we go home and kiss our children more, tuck them in their fuzzy pink or blue blankets extra tight at night, read that favorite worn book just one more time, and snuggle for an extra twenty minutes past bedtime. We say I love you more and are angry less because if you can carry a smile after all that you have been through, then we have every reason to smile every single day that we are alive and not fighting for our lives. That we have these small moments of seeming insignificance: the Cheerios on the floor, the dirty handprints on the windows, the crying at midnight after a nightmare. We have those chances at love still. But you don't. We owe it to you, our teacher, to realize that and not take these moments for granted.
We realize we need to take every moment, every opportunity we are given in this life, every gift of love and every relationship and appreciate it for what it is, a temporary bit of salvation in a difficult to understand world.
Thank you for who you are, for bringing joy to all of our lives all of these years, for fighting such a difficult fight against Cancer and for continuing to fight, if not in body, in spirit. Even when the end was looming, you still typed about beaches in Naples and your favorite Sesame Street song.
Many people are strong in body, but to be strong in spirit, that is where most of us falter, but not you. Your spirit is a beacon of light that will long outlive the weak shell of this life: it surrounds us even now, even here, in the midst of all despair. It is the sun shining in the windows, the light between the storm clouds, the flip of a simple switch in an otherwise darkened room. It is the spirit of a fighter, a dreamer, a believer.
Cancer will never get your spirit, Alex. Your spirit is alive in the beautiful eyes of your daughter Dre, who will carry on your legacy of kindness, who will visit the beaches of your dreams and sift the sands of life between the fingers that you gave her. Your spirit is alive, and will survive in every single life you have touched, every person who has the honor of hearing your story, and of knowing your heart.
You continue to teach anyone and everyone, whether family, friend or even “friend of a friend” on Facebook, what really matters: love, relationships, human beings, the simple joys of life we often overlook. Thank you for being the teacher we always knew you would be.
(Aunt) Chris Hartjes, 2012
April 30, 2012
So sorry for your loss. My son Matt was a friend of Alexs'. I can only imagine. Please accept the comfort God sends you and be at peace. Vicky and Denny Yernesek
Annie
April 30, 2012
I'm so sorry for your loss....Just the little bit of time that I spent with Alex, I could tell he was a fun guy to hang out with....he made my job not so hard, i could walk into his room and he would some how make me smile. I hope that you all can find peace during this very difficult time....we are thinking about you Alex and you will always have a soft spot in my heart, I always will remember how happy your were with a smile on your face when I would walk into your room at the hospital and remember that my life is okay and to just smile. Thank you Alex for that lesson withing the info i was giving you. ~One of your Frist Chemo Nurses~
April 30, 2012
Thank you Alex, I doubt anyone would have known, but I looked up to you all throughout high school, thank you for being a man that so many can admire.
April 30, 2012
Tom, My thoughts are with you, along with all of the crew at work. So sorry for your loss. Dick Rusch
Rhiannon Rolson
April 30, 2012
Dear Mary,
I just heard about Alex and my heart is breaking for you all. It seems like yesterday we were neighbors and I babysat him, Calvin and Brittany. I am so sorry for your loss. He was indeed one of the sweetest people I've ever known.. ~Rhiannon
Traci &Scott Haen
April 30, 2012
He is at peace now, and you will all be able to breath easy knowing he no longer suffers. He will be with you always. I am very sorry for your loss.
Traci& Scott Haen
April 30, 2012
What a handsome, beautiful young man!! I send the family sympathies & prayers. May God hold you in His arms as He is now holding Alex.
Russ, Sarah, Veronica and Alex Dix
April 30, 2012
Mary, Brittany, Calvin and Jonathan. We are so sorry to hear of Alex's passing. No words can sooth the pain you're enduring, but please know we are praying for you and your family.
From the Dix Family.
April 30, 2012
sorry for your loss
Trish Van Lith
April 30, 2012
Alex is free......sorry for your loss.
Bill and Kathy Carstens
April 30, 2012
We were so sorry to hear about Alex. He will be missed by so many. We remember him fondly from all those years of basketball.
Craig Bethke Bethke
April 30, 2012
Tom,
You and your family have my sympathy on the loss of your son.
Craig
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