This story was originally published Nov. 27, 2005. It is being republished for the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina as part of The Times-Picayune’s Pulitzer-winning coverage.
- Susie Joseph Sparks, 1959-2005
- Edward Sparks Jr., 1992-2005
- Marjorie Edwards, 1920-2005
Edward “Cool Pop” Sparks Sr. rarely took vacations. There were the occasional bus trips to the Gulf Coast casinos, and every once in a while he’d travel to Atlanta to see the Saints play the Falcons.
But Sparks, 54, was more likely to use vacation days from his job as a Regional Transit Authority bus driver to take care of his elderly aunt, Marjorie Edwards, a former nurse who suffered from diabetes.
“He never took a week for himself,” said Sparks’ younger sister, Gwendolyn Sparks, a Gentilly resident now living with 13 other family members in a Shreveport Holiday Inn. “He’d take days here and there. He’d use them to take our aunt to the doctor, to the bank and to the grocery store.”…