A Small Privately Held Investment & Asset Trading Company
My Biography
Everyone has a past.
Call it a history or a biography, if you've lived, you've got a history that follows you; and if you've worked for Corporate America, you've got a resume.
I don't do resume's anymore, but I do have a past, and here's a brief synopsis of 65 years of living on this earth.
Not much happens of significance between the time you're born until you graduate from High School, except, if you are fortunate: 1. you meet a few friends whom will be with you through out your life. 2. you observe the lives of others, including their ethics, work habits, morality, and compassion, each of which might provide you insight into how to live your life in the future. 3. your parents will teach you the things you need to learn as you move through the formative part of your life. 4. you'll get to work and learn the value of money, how to manage it, and develop a work ethic that you can take into your future. 5. you'll have teachers and mentors who will teach you reading, writing, and arithmatic, and possibly introduce you to music and/or sports, but primarily fill your head with enough knowledge to make you competitive in an extremely competitive world. 6. you'll learn the importance of how to communicate and interact with others.
So, not much happens, between birth and High School Graduation, except learning how to live your life in the future.
As a matter of fact, maybe it is a very important time afterall and maybe, as you move forward in life, it will be the foundation of making your dreams come true and excelling in this world.
This time for me was important: - I grew up dreaming of being a cowboy. - Went to work for $.10 an hour sweeping floors when I was 6. - Belonged to the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Explorer Scouts. - Mowed lawns with a push mower for $.35 when I was 11. - Got my first bank loan when I was 12, paid it off when I was 13. - Managed a movie theatre when I was 15 to 18, for $.35 an hour and worked 72 hours a week. - Played Trombone in a High School Band. - Upon graduation, joined the Marine Corps, and headed to college.
It doesn't get any better than that, and I wouldn't trade for the wonderful experiences and lessons.
The Marine Corps Years 1962 - 1972 (Active 1966-1969)
"Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our time, that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution, or as always, even death itself. The question remains: What is worth defending? What is worth dying for? What is worth living for?"
- William J. Bennett In a lecture to the United States Naval Academy November 24, 1997
Tet Offensive 1968 Hue Bridge
I was literally raised in the Marine Corps. The first thing I remember, was being 3 years old and World War II ending.
My father was a Marine Officer (a pioneer in the Marine Corps Radar Squadron History) and when he returned to teach college after WWII, he recruited other Marines to get their college education, and my first memory was a house full of Marines getting their physicals and psychological exams, in order to achieve admittance into the college my father taught.
At 3 years of age, I made up my mind to be a Marine, and upon graduation from high school, I immediately signed up with their Officer Candidate School, and my father swore me in.
I chose to become a Marine Officer and in order to do so, I had to get my college degree, which I did in 1966, and 3 months later, in December 1966, I had gold bars on my shoulders.
7 months later, I landed in DaNang, Republic Of Vietnam, and soon was stationed in PhuBai where I stayed for the duration of my tour of duty and was able to participate in the Tet Offensive of 1968 and the Battle For Hue.
All Marines need a little war to participate in, and my dream had come true. I had become a Marine Combat Veteran, had come within inches of loosing my life, and experienced emotions I simply couldn't have realized had I not taken the opportunity to volunteer to serve in Vietnam, where I received an education that has benefited me from that time on.
In Vietnam, for the first time in my life, I became very familiar with death, fear, atrocities, glory, defeat, and survival.
An education you can't get in college, and it's value to me became more important than any education money could buy.
Surviving situations that put people in harms way , may possibly lead to one's own death, reduces fear of death and failure, and with diminished fear of death and failure, and the ability to act without emotion, you can become free to emerse yourself in life's experiences, and you become in charge of your own destiny.
I was blessed with those lessons and many others I learned in Vietnam.
Some good, some bad, but all worthwhile lessons in reality.
Sadly, many of my friends were not as fortunate as I was, and lost their lives.
Their memories remain with me and have for over 40 years.
It has been said that "The Good Die Young". These friends definitely qualified as the "Good".
Those of us who survived, have a debt to them; to insure that their lives were not given in vain, and felt an obligation to give back to our world, in their honor.
Looking back now at my Vietnam experience, it occurs to me that our enemy, like us, were simply doing their job, each side trying to win a war, and to kill us, before we killed them. So our obvious goal, was to become better educated, better equipped, and better trained, than the enemy we were up against.
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It's been said, "Once A Marine, Always A Marine" and I have to agree with that. While this is not a paid recruiting ad, The Marine Corps gives young men and women the training and Esprit d'Corps that will last all their life. I would recommend it to all young men and women, who might benefit from the adventure.
If you are interested in belonging to The Few, The Proud, The Bold- The United States Marine Corps - CLICK HERE NOW!
I do believe the Marine Corps Motto, Semper Fidelis, "Always Faithful", and if you choose to serve your country as a Marine, your life will be be changed forever, and once you've experienced The Marine Corps, if you're still alive after the experience, you do have an advantage over the majority of people you will ever compete against, for the rest of your life.
"A Little Music Goes A Long Way”
I’ve always loved music. I took my first guitar lesson when I was about 6 years old. My youth failed me. I was too young. Then as I grew older I learned to play the trombone, and although even today, I cannot read music, I managed to become a member of the High School Marching Band for a few years, really neat uniform, but marching at football game half times, quit appealing to me.
In college, after meeting a cowboy studying to become a veterinarian and who played guitar, he offered to teach me the basics of guitar, in exchange for a case of beer, and I immediately accepted his offer, drank at least a six pack of the beer I gave him in exchange for the lesson, and went to the local music instrument store, traded my trombone in on a guitar, and for the next few years practiced the 4 chords in the key of C, over and over again, hour after hour, and learned more and more songs, usually Johnny Cash songs, although I began to move into other artists that were becoming so prominent in the early and mid 60’s, Eric Burton and the Animals, The Rolling Stones, and started enjoying the blues presented by Jimmy Reed and Lightning Hopkins. I met Lightning at a concert in Denver and he signed one of my guitars which I still have today.
In 1966, after receiving my commission as a 1st Lt. in the Marine Corps, I was off to Vietnam, and one of the first things I did upon arrival, was to buy a guitar. This time I had a regular audience playing Johnny Cash songs in the Officer’s Club (a Quonset Hut) in PhuBai, when I wasn’t out in the field.
To make a long story a little shorter, after returning from Vietnam, and upon discharge from the Marine Corps, I took my guitar, car, and brand new suit to Los Angeles and the Corporate World. And Hollywood. And then it got very exciting as I began hanging out in bars with entertainers, sports stars, and actors, many of whom most people reading this, would recognize.
And then leaving California on New Years Day 1973, to continue my Corporate America experience, I arrived and settled, in Denver, then a cow town, and found myself once again playing my music, on the side, to audiences that were into Outlaw Country music and Rock and Roll and the combination Country Rock. Just perfect.
Then in 1975 I was asked by close friends, associates of Elvis Presley, Lamar Fike, who spent 25 years with Elvis and started Elvis's "The Memphis Mafia"; and Tommy Stewart McDonald, Lamar's cousin, and one of only a small number of my life time best friends and mentors; if I would like to go to Vail for Elvis Presley's 41st birthday.
Which I did, and the next thing I knew I was writing songs, playing songs at gigs, and with their help and support, did a recording of my songs in Dolly Parton and Porter Waggoner's Fireside Studio in Nashville.I went on to continue to write songs and did more recording sessions in Denver.
Col. Parker, Lamar, Elvis
Tommy & Lamar Today
Elvis & Lamar
Lamar Fike Today
Tommy, Little David, Lamar, Me
Little David, Tommy, Me, Jerry Kennedy, Ron Petrofeso, Little Donna Darling, Bob Cantwell, Lamar - Denver 1978
And if you are an Elvis fan, you might want to pick up Lamar’s latest book about his 25 years with Elvis Presley.
Lamar and Tommy provided me the opportunity to realize and participate in a dream that few people can ever realize; one of the most exciting times in my life, and allowed me to meet and "hang out with" some very accomplished and in many instances, famous people in the entertainment industry.
I will always be thankful for the association I had with both Lamar and Tommy, who introduced me to a wonderful and very fulfilling time of my life, and I will always be greatful to them both for sharing with me, a very special time in my life.
Anyway, here are my copyrighted recordings, now appearing on the internet for the first time. I'll ask you to listen to the words I wrote at a very unique time in my life. Each of these songs took about 3 minutes to write and I cannot even begin to understand where the words came from. Somehow, they were inside me, just waiting to be set “Free”.
I’ve included some songs written by others which I recorded with my Father In Law, Gartsel Hamrick, and a few Songs sung by the Group Alabama, with just me and my guitar.
The Nashville Session 1978
Wow, what an opportunity I was given to record the songs I had written and to meet the Stars of Country Music who I admired so much, many of whom I had previously sang their songs.
Little David Wilkens & Me
Here are the songs I wrote and recorded at Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner’s Fireside Studio, the session was was mixed and directed by Little David Wilkins and the musicians backing me up, were Little David's Band, Elvis's Piano Player (before Elvis’s death), Charley Pride's Steel Player, and my audience was one lovely lady who just happened to be married to Townes Van Zandt, a leading song writer and entertainer who had become a cult figure throughout the world, which would continue after his death.
Song # 1 - Ain't No Hunger - I wrote this from observations I had made at the time of the writing. The 70's were a times of not only "free" love, but also "lots of love". Relationships seemed to ignite, burst into flame, and the sizzle as the fire burned out. I suppose, it might have been confusing to many. And that's what I evidently tried to say in this song.
Copyright 1984
Song # 2 - Honk Tonk Heroes (The Best Two Damn Honky Tonk Heroes) - I wrote for Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson to sing. At that time I sounded a great deal like Waylon Jennings and I did all his songs when I played in front of an audience. Waylon & Willie turned the traditional Country and Western Music Industry upside down, as they played their Outlaw Country Music. I had started to sing Waylon Jennings songs 10 years earlier, in PhuBai, Vietnam, after watching a movie called Nashville Rebel starring him.
Copyright 1984
Song # 3 - Old Cowboys (He Ain't Going No Where - I wrote this for the father of my friend A. K. Morgan's Father, who ran the Phelp's Ranch in Denver, which in the 70's covered an exceptional mass of property from Sante Fe to I-25, South of County Line Blvd., which is now known as Highlands Ranch and Lone Tree. Every Sunday afternoon, with the permission of Mr. Morgan, I was allowed to attend Polo matches on the Ranch. A.K. and other exceptional horsemen were the performers in a spectacular sport performance. A.K. and Ray Rose were both professional cowboys and horse shoers, and A.K.'s father was one of a dying breed of Gentlemen Rancher/Cowboys. When I wrote the words "Old Cowboys Never Win, But They Ride Anyway", it was about men, A.K., Ray, and Mr. Morgan, who took pride in and Simply Lived Their Lives the right way, with pride and conviction.
Copyright 1979
Song # 4 - Moonlight and Roses - It would be impossible to describe the "electricity" of the un-harnessed emotions, expectations, and eventual total fulfillment of the audience attending the next to the last Elvis concert I attended at the Elvis Concert in Dallas just prior to his death. It was the most exciting event of my life. I wrote Moonlight and Roses for Elvis to Sing to Pricilla and when you listen to the words, you'll hear the story of a man seeking a "real and unconditional relationship" and he eventually finds someone who brings that foundation into his life.
Copyright 1984
Song # 5 - Breaking My Mind (You Been Breaking My Mind) - "You been breaking my mind, tearing me to pieces, throwing it all away". Once again, the turbulance of the 70's comes to play. We had it all, but would walk away from the good and the bad, without hesitation. Interesting.
Copyright 1984
The Denver Session 1983
It was one of those spur of the moment times, when you set procrastination behind and decide to "Just Do It". I had completed writting a number of songs and had wanted to get them recorded in studio.
Fortunately I had several friends who had never been in a recording studio before, and they were willing to give up their time and music talent, in exchange for the opportunity to create a product.
So off we went to American Recording Studio in Denver and in just a few hours had laid down some very good tracks. And two of the performers were still in their mid-teens, both had just started becoming experts in the instruments they had chosen.
John Beldock, now grown into a successfull Motorcyle Sales Entrepreneur in Denver, played the drums on this recording. Larry Barnes, a very old friend and X-Ray Technician played Rythym Guitar. I'm sorry to say, I can't remember the names of the lead guitar player and the bass player. I am happy that they supported the session.
Song # 6 - My Low Down Ways - This doesn't require a lot of ananlysis. It's as old as men and women. In this story, the woman simply doesn't understand the ways of the "Wild One" she was seeing. "That woman, she don't understand my low down ways". You sort of get the impression, the man is sort of proud of not giving into the situation, but he's not really sure it's the right way to be.
Copyright 1984
Song # 7 - I Could Fly(Every Now And Then) - I wrote this for Dolly Pardon to sing. The chorus, "Every now and then, I get a feeling I can fly", bring visions of people overcoming, at least temporily, overcoming all obstacles in their way. I like the song.
Copyright 1984
Song # 8 - In Retrospect(That Long Hard Travelings Gonna Get To You) - I wrote this about my life until that point in time. I had grown up, graduated from High School and College with a learning disability that prohibited me from reading and recalling what I had just read, become a Marine Officer, become a Combat Veteran in Vietnam, had achieved a reasonable amount of financial success in Corporate America, had hung out and played with movie stars and leading music entertainers, and was at that time in my life, had to ask, "How can I achieve more than I've already achieved?".
And so I sat down and wrote this song.
Copyright 1984
Song # 9 - Sometimes They Last (Sometimes The Feeling Last And Sometimes They Don't) - One of my favorite songs. "Sometimes the feeling last and sometimes they don't". Wow. I'm not sure where it could have come from, other than observation of other's lives. I was single, never married, and these words flowed out, evidently based upon observations of others I had known in life, some making their relationships or marriages work, and some not. To me, it is a metamorphosis in the relationships we have in our lives. Sometimes relationships work, and sometimes they simply don't.
Copyright 1984
Song # 10 - Woman You Got Me Drinking - I can't remember exactly why I wrote this or when, but it appears that it was at a time when I was looking for an excuse to drink. Whatever prompted the song, I got over it and I'm proud to say, I no longer need an excuse to drink. Anyway, not a bad song. Copyright 1984
Song # 11 - The Feelings Grow(Like a flame that never dies) - This is one of my favorite songs. How words like that could come of my mind when I was writing a song, I have no idea, and I would never be able to emulate the gentleness of them with using music as my medium. It really fascinates me.
Copyright 1984
Song # 12 - Hold Me Tight - This song is about two people who just happen to meet, the time is right, and they decide to enjoy the moment. "When two lonely people chance to meet", is sometimes justification to live in the moment. I like this song.
Copyright 1984
Song # 13 - I'll Never Know What Makes A Man - Time and time again, I've seen people make decisions that are not, at least in my opinion at the the time, good for them. This song is about the nomadic philosophy and need to remain free from ties and relationships with others. It's simply life, but as I listen to to the words, once again, I surprised at the thoughts that rolled so freely as I wrote some 300 songs, most of them still incomplete, but it has arrosed my curiosity to once again look at the partials and complete them.
Copyright 1984
Gartsel with my boys Max & Baron
Gartsel & Me 1990
One of the highlights of my life was going to a recording studio for a session with my Father-In-Law, Gartsel Hamrick, a coal minor turned mine inspector (and my wife Sheila is truly a coal miner's daughter), originally from the mountains of W. Virginia.
I was raised on music by Mama Maybelle Carter & Family and Hank Williams and the raw mountain and country music of the 40's and 50's.
It seems that everyone in the mountains of W. Virginia, could sing, and when they sang, their voices brought the true grit and soul of America into play. The small churches still echo with religious songs that will convince anyone who hear the music, that the singers have just had a close and personal talk with God.
Gartsel had that unique voice that is so natural, it can't be duplicated. You either have it or you don't have it.
But when the two of us would break out our guitars and start singing together, a fascinating mix of uniqueness came out.
I'm very proud of this session, recorded just days before Gartsel passed from this earth in 1990.
This is the only time I ever sang with onyone else in studio, and I'm so happy to have made these recordings, which I called Gartsel and Me!
Song # 14 - Loving Her Was Easier
Song # 15 - Good HeartedWoman
Song # 16 - Amanda
Song # 17 - Today I Started Loving You Again
Song # 18 - Bobby McGee
Song # 19 - Mama Tried
Song # 20 - Sing Me Back Home
Song # 21 - Precious Memories When I listen to this after so many years, I vividly remember the gentle flow of Gartsel's singing and story. It drew me in to visual images each time he began another sentence. It was and continues to be, a tribute to the sensitivity that so many of us, move away from as we experience life and become cynical. It's one of my WOW's of life. Gartsel made Calm.
Song # 22 -This is more than a song, it's a lesson about the American Flag and what it means to me and to many others who truly care about our America. I've heard politician's rhetorical abundance when they say, "I love America and I love our flag", but they are just moving their lips. This wonderful presentation by Gartsel, is more than rhetoric, it is the soul of the Founding Father's being expressed by a man, who knew exactly what America stands for. Gartsel's words - is America! '
My Alabama Song Session
When I first heard these songs by the group Alabama the first time, I felt compelled to record them myself, which I did finally, as a present to my wife on her birthday. It was a very brief session, only 3 songs, in a "Un-Plugged" session, just my guitar and me.
When I listened to the playback, I thought they were terrible and put a label on the cassette that said, "S_ _t Session", tossed the cassette in a box, and found them almost 15 years later. I had forgotten that I had even recorded them, but after listening to them, I thought they sounded pretty good, so here they are for you to judge.
Song # 21 - Forever's As Far As I Go
Song # 22 - Goodbye
Song # 23 - If I Had You
The Corporate America Years 1970 - 2003 Medical Sales &Marketing 1972 - 2003
While I spent the first 3 years after leaving the Marine Corps in Consumer Product Sales, the exciting part of my career began in 1972, when I began employment in sales and marketing for a medical manufacturer who specialized in Cardiovascular Medicine.
It was a relatively new field then. Dr. Michael DeBakey had done the first heart bypass in 1969 and working out of Denver, I was assigned to sell diagnostic and therapeudic cardiovascular products to C.V. Surgeons, Cardiologists, and Radiologists in Hospitals in Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, New Mexico, and El Paso, Texas.
Because the field was so new then, I was able to be trained by a select group of Pioneer C.V. Surgeons, Cardiologists, and Radiologists, in the world. The times were so exciting then, that in a brief time in the industry I decided to learn all I could about the field and procedures I sold products to and for. I had found my home and the medical professionals I worked with daily were all dedicated to their chosen careers. We were all literally growing up together in an industry that required total dedication.
In 1978, I heard about a Radiologist in Zurich, Switzerland. Andreas Gruentzig had invented a technique that, rather than bypass occluded coronary arteries, he would manipulate a balloon through the coronary and into the lesion, and inflate a balloon and compress the lesion to the wall.
At the time, I thought it sounded like science fiction at the time, but eventually I met Gruentzig and became totally emersed in his insight and product development. My company came to an agreement with him for the rights to sale and later manufacturer his balloon products and introduce and sell his products in the United States.
In the early 80's, almost without warning, the FDA approved his products for sale and use in the United States. It was a total and unexpected surprise, because there were no training centers existing for the cardiologists to learn to do the procedure, which was now known as Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty or what became known as PTCA.
Interventional Cardiology had come to the United States!
And because there were no training facilities available, a small group of sales representatives, including me, were summoned to the University Of Massachusetts Medical Center Cath Lab, where we received intensive training on the procedure and actually got to do an angioplasty on pigs.
That's me in the picture in the upper right of this segment of the webpage, and I'm doing one of the first angioplasties ever done in America. Other sales representatives that day, also did one of the first angioplasties in the United States. The poor pig succumbed to the procedures, but we were armed with as much information as was available at the time, and a week after our training, we were in the field training Cardiologists and the nurses and technicians in their cath labs across America.
Another year would pass and Dr. Gruentzig moved from Zurich to Atlanta's Emory University and including Emory, 4 training centers were set up in America. But the technology was constantly evolviing and that kept the sales reps (turned trainers) busy traveling, participating in the procedures, and training and updating staffs for many years to come.
Those were my glory years, because everyday, was a new adventure, and at the end of the day, I knew that I had accomplished something worthwhile with my life and the medical community.
Below is my "final" Career Summary for your perusal, which brings to completion my Corporate American career, and "Officially" begins my "New" Un-Retirement Years, Today.
Bill Sparkman "Final Summary Of Career" Cardiovascular and Urology Call Points: Diagnostic & Interventional Cardiology / Radiology Catheterization Labs Diagnostic & Interventional Electrophysiology Labs Operating Rooms ER’s Special Care Units
Sales Training: Trained Domestic Cardiology Sales Forces in Diagnostic & Interventional Cardiology. Trained International Cardiology Distributor Sales Forces from India, Pakistan, Mainland China, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Philippines, Hong Kong, and Malaysia, in Diagnostic/Interventional Cardiology, in Bangalore, India & Bangkok/Phuket, Thailand.
Marketing Support: “New” Product Strategic Sales & Marketing Planning during pre-launch and implementation.
Physician/Staff Training: Introduction Of Interventional Cardiology into America. Training and Proctoring of Clinical Sites for Regulatory Pathway Compliance.
Education: Master of Business Administration Degree, University of Phoenix Commissioned Officer, US Marine Corps Basic School, First Lieutenant, USMCR Bachelor of Science Degree, East Texas State University (Science, Biology, Education)
I am pleased to belong to these organizations.
If you are a veteran and would like to join one of these organizations, simply click on the logo of the organization to the right.
