Position:
Education Faculty
Julia (Judy) L. Sparrow, age 91, died May 2, 1999, at the Mount Olivet Home in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
She was born March 4, 1908, in Royalton, Minnesota, to Henry and Ethelyn Sparrow. She is survived by her sister, Edna Olson, of Minneapolis, her sister-in-law, Peg Sparrow, of Costa Mesa, California, many loving nieces and nephews, and a special friend, Marion Staley of Waterloo.
Judy graduated from St. Cloud Teachers College in St. Cloud, Minnesota, with a two-year teaching degree and later returned there to get her B. S. degree. She taught in rural schools and then attended the State University of Iowa where she received her M.A. in 1944. She came to Iowa State Teachers College in 1944 as a member of the Education Department and an extension worker in the rural schools. In 1947 she returned to SUI as temporary director of their remedial reading program and to complete her doctorate. In 1951, Dr. Sparrow returned to ISTC and devoted her career to "revising, revamping, altering, and perfecting" the reading program. She was known to spend her own money to buy materials to build study carrels for children tutored in the Reading Clinic and to purchase other supplies. As head of the Reading/Language Arts Division, she oversaw the move of the Reading Clinic into its new home in the Education Center before her retirement in 1974.
Colleagues recall "her gracious way of getting the best from everybody" and "what a joy she was to know and to work with," and stated, "She was happiest when she was with children." A former student described Judy's "unique way of influencing us by exposure to her dedication to her work, her intuitiveness and insight into individuals, her concern for children, and her professional knowledge."
Dr. Sparrow was active in local, state, and national professional, religious, and service organizations and helped write the Iowa State Handbook on Reading.
The Julia Sparrow Scholarship is awarded to an undergraduate or graduate student who has demonstrated exceptional performance in course work and program activities in reading at UNI. To date, thirty-three deserving students have benefited from this scholarship. Donations to the Julia L. Sparrow Scholarship Fund can be made through the UNI Foundation.