of Chelsea, MI died peacefully June 14, 2023. Stanley (Stan) was born November 13, 1934, to Clyde and Mildred (Kidd) Sprague, in Plain Township, Ohio. He was named after his mother’s favorite uncle (Stanley Hindley) and his father. He was an only child, the son of a farmer and spent a lot of his time alone. He learned to appreciate nature at an early age and loved to hunt and fish. He developed an interest in bird watching after a trip in high school with a friend. He found a coupon in a magazine for a correspondence course in taxidermy. He took the course and soon shot and stuffed his own collection of birds including an owl and pheasant using the wire and glass eyes provided by the course.
Stan attended school in Bowling Green where he was a good student. He had a motorized bike he rode into town. His interests included playing clarinet in the band, singing in the choir, track and he was a running back on his high school football team. He also developed an interest in photography, saving up for an entire year to buy his first camera.
In 1952 he married his high school sweetheart, Nancy Nixon, and went on to have a family of five children. Stan graduated from Bowling Green State University in 1956 with a major in Business Administration. Although he worked as a butcher at Kroger’s while he attended BGSU and was offered a management position following graduation, his mother convinced him to apply to IBM. He was offered and accepted a job with IBM in August of 1956 and the family moved to Detroit, Michigan. They moved to Flint where Stan was a Field Technical Representative, wiring computer boards while working on General Motors accounts. Several years later, the family moved to Grand Blanc.
Stan became the first System Engineering Manager in Michigan and later moved into Marketing where he earned several 100% Clubs. In 1969 he moved to Poughkeepsie, New York where he worked in IBM product development, helping to launch the first multi-processor models of IBM’s mainframe computers. In 1974, the family moved back to West Bloomfield, Michigan where Stan once more worked as a System Engineer on General Motors accounts. Stan earned many awards and System Engineering Symposiums with IBM, retiring in 1987. Stan and Nancy moved to a house on Lake Ann for their retirement. For a while they also wintered in the Bradenton, Florida area when Stan inherited a house from his parents. Later they lived in a condo on Old Mission Point and then more recently at the Chelsea Retirement Community.
It was while in New York that Stan’s love of bird watching, and photography intersected. He built dark rooms in both the Poughkeepsie and West Bloomfield houses, developing black and white and color film. When digital cameras became available, he bought color printers, Photoshop software and never looked back. For his 80th birthday, his family produced a coffee book of a selection of his nature prints.
Stan’s retirement brought him many diversions - besides his photography, he loved to fish and do woodworking. Stan and Nancy were members of the Orchard Lake Community Church, Presbyterian when they lived in West Bloomfield. They became member of the Traverse City Presbyterian Church when they moved north. He joined the Lion’s Club, became a Stephen Minister at The Presbyterian Church of Traverse City, and became involved with the Village of Lake Ann Planning commission. Stan was foreman on Habitat for Humanity projects while in Traverse City. Stan and Nancy helped plant the Northern Lakes Community Church (Presbyterian) and Stan was a founding member.
Stan was preceded in death by his parents, Clyde and Mildred Sprague and his daughter Susan Rushton. Stan is survived by his children: Ed Sprague (Jo), Mike Sprague (Ruth), Sally Montera (Dave) and Barbara Davenport (John); his grandchildren: Hilary, Molly, Jason, Leah, Stephanie, Sean, Carly, Drew, Tara, Kady, and Wiley; and great grandchildren: Kaleb, Carter, Kolden, Kenzie, Callie, Levi, Luka, Tucker, Ryland, William, Gaige, Griffin, Gaines, Mae, Ruby, Cameron, Liam, Elliot, Julia, and Leif.
A celebration of life will be held later. Memorial contributions may be made in Stan’s honor to the Alzheimer’s Association.
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