Furnas, Sparkle Moore, 1901-1996

Sparkle Velma Moore was born March 14th, 1901 daughter of Rosa B. Brunes Moore and William Allen Moore near Zionsville, Indiana. She attended Boone County Public Schools and graduated from Zionsville High School in 1919. She attended Purdue University off and on from 1919-1924, graduating with a B.S. degree. In between she taught high school home economics and general science in Colfax, Lebanon, and Waterloo High Schools in Indiana. From 1924-25 she taught home economics, English and Latin in Whitestown High School, Indiana. Sparkle Moore married Clifford Cook Furnas on April 12, 1925 in Happy Hollow, W. Lafayette, Indiana. The first year of their marriage they spent in Ann Arbor, Michigan where Clifford received his Ph. D. in Chemical Engineering in 1926. They moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1926 where Sparkle was appointed an Assistant in Dietetics and Nutrition in the Home Economics Department at the University of Minnesota and began her work on a Master's Degree. She was promoted to Instructor in 1927, completed her degree in June, 1930, and continued to teach full-time 1930-1931. The Moores lived in to New Haven, Connecticut from 1931 to 1943. While Clifford taught at Yale, Sparkle was active in community organizations, attended graduate seminars in biochemistry, taught classes on nutrition for the Red Cross, gave lectures and wrote articles on nutrition, supported her husband's research and social activities, and helped design and build a home in Mr. Carmel, Conneticut. Daughter Beatrice Louis Furnas was born on January 8, 1933.

In February 1943, the Furnases moved to Buffalo, New York where Dr. Furnas had been named Director of the Curtiss-Wright Research Laboratory [later renamed the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory and then Calspan]. Sparkle continued her professional and community service activities lecturing on nutrition, working with the A.A.U.W., the local parent-teacher association, and other civic organizations. Ever the supportive spouse, Sparkle organized many social engagements related to her husband's work. In 1954 when Dr. Furnas was named Chancellor of the University of Buffalo, Sparkle assumed the tireless role of "first lady" at UB. She served as hostess and entertained some 50,000 persons from 1954 to 1966 when Dr. Furnas retired. Sparkle Furnas was honored many times over by various UB and local organizations including the Walter P. Cooke Award for service to the University in June 1971. Following Dr. Furnas' death in 1969, Sparkle dedicated herself to organizing his papers, memorabilia, etc. and advocated for the University to establish the Clifford C. Furnas Memorial Room. She privately published an index to all of his works, eight other titles written by him, and a special memorial biography. She also research and organized the Furnas Family records and memorabilia to produce a book called Furnas Family Fragments, researched and published the Moore and Brunes family genealogies, and published a book of poetry by Clifford's father, T. Chalmers Furnas. The Furnas' were avid worldwide travelers. Sparkle documented their trips by collecting and organizing memorabilia.

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