Shirley Sparks Greif

Shirley Nichols was born on December 2, 1933 in Sidney, Iowa, and died December 14 at the age of 90. Her parents were Paul V. Nichols and Norma James Nichols. She graduated from Sidney High School in 1951 and went to the University of Iowa where she was affiliated with Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. She was active with Kappa alumni, serving as president several times. She graduated in 1955 with a degree in speech pathology and audiology. She was a member of Mortar Board honorary society and Phi Beta Kappa.In 1954 she married Robert Sparks, then a medical student, and followed his career in academic medicine through several moves, first to New Orleans where he was a medical resident and then dean of Tulane Medical School. Those 15 years were what Shirley referred to as being a "professional wife" as their home was open to medical students and faculty. It was in New Orleans that their three children were born and Shirley received a master's degree from Tulane University. She held various jobs, including speech pathologist for Head Start and Crippled Children's Hospital, and as principal for Cottage School for Pre-School deaf children.The family moved to Omaha, NE in 1972 and Shirley taught at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Four years later the family moved to Battle Creek, Michigan. For 15 very happy years she was an associate professor on the faculty of Western Michigan University at Kalamazoo in communication disorders. She began Ph.D studies at the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor and she fulfilled all requirements except for the dissertation.Life changed quickly when she moved with Robert to California, and she then started her life anew as a single woman. She found lasting friendships in church, Stanford Singles and Bay Area Tennis Society. She went to work as a speech pathologist for First Step Preschool, now Via. From there Dr. Ruth Cook hired her on the faculty of Santa Clara University's Department of Special Education where she specialized in early intervention for special needs children. Concurrently she was employed by HOPE Homestart as a home visitor with children ages 0-3. Her case load consisted of children with feeding problems. It was her pleasure to see premature children who were tube-fed learn to eat by mouth. While at Santa Clara, her third book, co-authored with Dr. Cook, "The Art and Practice of Home Visiting: Early Intervention for Children with Special Needs and Their Families was published. The 2nd edition of that book was published in 2021.In her professional career, Shirley was proudest of being elected as a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. She is the author of 2 other books, many invited chapters and articles on early intervention, genetics, and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and was a speaker to speech pathologist and infant educators in the US and other countries. But her proudest accomplishment was her three children: Steven Sparks (Lee), Ann Feldman (John) and John (Eva), her six grandchildren: Beth and Quinlan Sparks, Emily Jacobs, Josh and Jordan Feldman, and Kyle Sparks, and her great-grand daughter Maya Jacobs.In 1995 Shirley met the man who was to be her second husband at a church dance: Dick Greif, an Aeronautical Engineer at NASA. They married in 2004 and had over 30 happy years together sharing a love of tennis, which they played into their 80's, and ballroom dancing. Shirley then had 2 stepchildren; Laura Homen (Pat) and Steve Greif (Nikki) and 4 step grandchildren: Tyler and Alyssa Homen and Sarah and Laney Greif. Shirley and Dick loved the times spent with their families. They celebrated their 5th anniversary with an Alaska Cruise for all family members and a vacation at the YMCA resort in Estes Park CO for their 15th. Shirley took her first 5 grandchildren on individual trips to Elderhostels when they were young and to New York City (girls) and Yosemite (boys) when they were college age. Each year the Sparks family had a reunion on the shore of Lake Michigan for a week of fun, games, and laughter.In retirement Shirley continued to play tennis and bridge at Saratoga Country Club. She took piano lessons for many years and enjoyed her "Salon" group of adult piano students. She belonged to 2 book clubs and Inner Wheel (spouses of Cupertino Rotary). Her passion for children affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) led to her participation with the FASD Collaborative at Parents Helping Parents and as an advisor to Celebrating Families!, a program to break the cycle of addiction in families. She began, and facilitated a support group for parents of children with FASD for many years.In 2022, Shirley was honored as one of the "Eight Over 80" award winners from the University of Iowa, celebrating her academic and philanthropic achievements in childhood special education. In 2023, She and husband Dick received the DeAnza Commission Community Award for advancing the mission of DeAnza College through volunteerism and donations. They served on the DeAnza Commission for over 20 years. In lieu of flowers donation may be made to Parents Helping Parents for the FASD collaborative. A Celebration of Life Luncheon will be scheduled soon.