Darold C. Sprague

Darold Clyde Sprague was born on March 8, 1944, in San Francisco, California, the only child of Clyde Morris Sprague and Violet Whitebrook Sprague. He spent most of his life in central California near California Hot Springs. After graduating from Porterville High School in 1963, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served as a Quartermaster for the USS Clark County (LST 601) and the USS Whitfield County (LST 1169).

Upon his honorable discharge in September 1968, he was awarded a National Defense Service Medal, a Vietnam Campaign Medal, and a Vietnam Service Medal. He returned to California, spending time as a young twenty-something working first in a brake shop in Santa Monica and later as a bartender at the Shanghai Saloon near Belmont Shore area of Naples (Long Beach Marina).

He returned to Pine Flats when he and his father purchased the Rabbit Foot Saloon. Beyond the care of the bar and their short-term rentals (cabins and trailers) nestled in the Sierra National Forest, Darold served as a volunteer firefighter and EMT coordinating the annual BBQ fundraising events. As required, he plied the construction skills he learned in cabin/trailer park maintenance to generate income. Those skills served him well, first for paid employment in the area and later for a short time in Mesa, Arizona.

On a trip to Colorado in 2001, he rekindled a friendship with Angelina Sanchez, whom he met in Southern California. That friendship blossomed into love, and they married on January 15, 2005. Their love was one made it heaven…Angelina was 55 years old and Darold 60 years old when they married. Their near-retirement lifestyle lent itself well to road trips to visit family and friends in New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and Northern California.

Darold remodeled their home and added a 12'x24' addition to the garage where he had his man-cave, a heated, fully equipped studio where he created exceptionally beautiful stained glass. When nephew Levi Sanchez moved to the area from Pennsylvania in 2013 with his future wife, Jill Arnhold Sanchez, Darold and Angelina's lives were further enriched. It was a nearby familial connection they previously lacked that enhanced their lives tremendously.

That idyllic life took a turn with Darold's diagnosis of pulmonary fibrosis. Darold passed Thursday, January 9, 2025, at Pathways Inpatient Care Center under the care of a team of doctors, nurses, and CNAs who met their organization's mission of compassionate medical and comfort care at the end of his life. Their support for Darold and his family made a difficult time more tolerable.

Darold will be cremated and his remains buried at Santa Fe National Cemetery in the spring of 2025.