Stephen Ernest Spradley

Stephen E. Spradley passed away August 11th, 2025 surrounded by his family. Born April 13th, 1950 to Wilbur and Patricia (Baird) Spradley in Tecumseh, NE, he was the oldest of their two boys. Steve started skeet shooting at age 6 with his father. They competed together and won the National Doubles Championship twice. Steve won somewhere around 43 individual events throughout the country.
Steve was a proud Purdue alumni, graduating in 1972 with a degree in Bionucleonics. He owned Hill's Cracked Block for 25 years - a true family business - employing his mother, children, and taking his youngest to work with him when she was just a toddler. While he owned Hill's, he would take the entire month of June off every year specifically to play golf. He loved it. He was the Internet Sales Manager at Eastgate Chrysler for 15 years, and later worked at FedEx, in his "retirement." He loved to keep busy, meet new people, and took pride in whatever he did.
Steve was passionate about his family, adored his wife, Kelly (and creme horns), and lived for his 6 children and many grandchildren. He actively raised children for over 40 years of his life. He spent as much time with his grandchildren as he could - taking them fishing, to baseball games, attending their performances, cheering for them at their games, and was genuinely excited when he got to see them do whatever they loved.
His family is actually surprised that Steve didn't write his own obituary. If he had, they are confident that it would have been a whole lot more pithy. And humorous. He absolutely would have included large words few people know. They also feel confident that he would have included these two things:
• he was preceded in death by one leg - he might have told you it was from a bear fight, a shark attack, or when he was abducted by aliens • and to always remember that "The mad just have to get glad again!"
And, just in case you are wondering, Steve said that dying was "very stupid."
Steve was preceded in death by his parents; his brother, David; aunts and uncles; and his daughter, Tonya Cangany. He is survived by his wife Kelly, daughter Lisa (Brian) Taylor, son Ernie (Stacy Long) Spradley, daughters Ashley (Chun) Davidson-Lam, Kellina (Ary) Avnet, and Lauren (Brandon) Spradley-Collins; grandkids Cody, Ryleigh, Reis, Jaret, Avery, Vivienne, Ellis, and Isabelle; and many friends.
Family and friends will gather for visitation from 2pm-4pm on Wednesday, August 20, 2025, at Simplicity Funeral and Cremation Care, 125 W. Sycamore St. Zionsville, IN 46077. A memorial service will be held at 4pm, also at the funeral home.