Ullmer, Joseph Knox "Sparky"
Joseph Ullmer, known to friends as "Sparky," passed away on November 14, 2018, at the age of 77 years.
A native of Colorado, Sparky was born at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital and grew up in Denver. He contracted polio at the age of 9 and was paralyzed from the waist down. In the early 1960s, Sparky attended Mesa Junior College in Grand Junction, Colorado, and completed his degree in Economics at the University of Denver. He worked for the Colorado Department of Education and then was medically retired due to an accident in the mid-80s. Sparky was proud to say he was “Mr. Mom” to his two daughters Cate and Sarah.
Sparky, who had a larger than life personality, was an avid ham radio operator (KA0DPC) who called himself the “Voice of Lakeridge”. He was an advocate for people with disabilities and was a voice for handicapped accessibility.
Sparky was active in his church, loved reading, writing to his pen pals and genuinely enjoyed spending time with his family and friends. He appreciated the companionship of his two service dogs, Teddy Bear and Booker. He was enormously proud of his children and took great joy in being a grandpa.
He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Mary, daughters Cate (Jim) and Sarah (Morgan), and 4 grandchildren.
A Celebration of Sparky’s life will be held at 11:30 am, on Friday, November 30th, at Harvey Park Christian Church, 3401 South Lowell Blvd in Denver.
In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Sparky can be made to Freedom Service Dogs https://freedomservicedogs.org/, Harvey Park Christian Church