Wilbur V. Sprenger

On April 28, 2020, Wilbur Sprenger's work on earth was completed. His body and mind were tired and God called him home. Heaven will be brighter by his presence and those who knew him will remember him with a smile.

Wilbur Jr. was born in Denver on December 13, 1928. His parents, Wilbur V. Sprenger Sr. and Harriotte Eyser Sprenger, lived a small house on Asbury Street in South Denver. Their house was essentially a converted garage in the back of Harriotte's mothers house. Wilbur Jr. attended Asbury Elementary, Grant Junior High, and South High School in Denver. In his early life, Wilbur was an exceptional athlete - excelling in gymnastics and baseball. Unfortunately, when he was 17, he had a serious accident and life was changed. Wilbur accepted, adapted, managed well throughout life.

Wilbur attended the University of Colorado in Boulder where he received a degree in Mechanical Engineering. While attending university, he met his life partner, Norma Fae Moler Sprenger. They were married on August 27, 1957 and were married for nearly 63 years at the time of his passing. Wilbur and Norma have 3 children: Gregory, Bradley, and John.

Wilbur had a successful working career. While in college, he worked for the Bowman Biscuit Company, and contributed to the design and construction of their new bakery at the corner of Pecos and I-70 in Denver. Shortly after Brad was born in 1961, Wilbur took a position at Jolly Rancher Candy Company in Wheat Ridge. Wilbur was largely responsible for the success of the Jolly Rancher company by designing and building scalable manufacturing of Jolly Rancher's products. Through the years, Jolly Rancher's ownership changed via various corporate consolidations. Wilbur eventually retired as Vice President of Engineering for Leaf International. Leaf and Jolly Rancher eventually became part of the Hershey Corporation.

Some of Wilbur's greatest joys in life were traveling, camping, and fishing. Greg, Brad, and John have terrific memories of traveling with the family's travel trailer on summer vacations. In addition to seeing nearly every part of Colorado, we traveled to many of the national parks in the Western US. Our travels took us to exotic places like Carlsbad Caverns, Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce, Grand Canyon, Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, San Francisco, the Great Redwoods, St Louis (the Arch and Anheuser- Busch), Glacier National Park. During the 1967 ""Summer of Love,” we were in San Francisco. The hippie community was clearly not part of Wilbur and Norma's life - so the family didn't visit the Haight-Ashbury district but spent most of our time at uncle Don's house in Los Gatos.

Wilbur was a meticulous thinker and designer. Whether building manufacturing equipment at Jolly Rancher or building a toy crib for a grandchild, Wilbur thought through, documented and designed every aspect of a project before executing the first cut of wood or drilling the first hold in a piece of metal. The end results were always stunning.

Wilbur was an accommodating and loving parent, husband, and father-in-law. Norma's mother, Lela Moler, was a significant part of family life for the Sprengers. Grandma Lela was at our house nearly every weekend and always traveled on the family vacations. Wilbur loved Grandma Lela and was always happy to have her in his life.

Wilbur is survived by a huge and thriving family: his wife Norma; sons Greg (Leanne), Brad (Jill), and John; sister Barbara Carlock; seven grandchildren and thirteen great-grand-children. Wilbur was preceded in death by brother Don who passed in 1991.

Wilbur lived his life with the understanding and expectation that he would meet Jesus Christ and would reunite with those who preceded him. We're certain there is a joyous celebration in heaven today.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, a private graveside service was held at Arvada Cemetery with a small group of immediate family members.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations in Wilbur’s memory be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital or Shriners Hospitals for Children, two of Wilbur’s fondest charities.