Sunrise
May 22, 1942
Sunset
October 5, 2015
Sergeant Isiah Spearman was born May 22, 1942 son of the late John B Spearman and Palestine Stewart in Prescott, Arkansas. Sgt. Spearman was the oldest son, and sibling to John Spearman and Louis Spearman. As a young child he would tend to the farm where he lived with his parents and Grandpa Kat, who he adored. Raising farm animals and learning how to work hard for the things he wanted in life. Wanting a better life for their children Father John and Mother Palestine moved their family from Arkansas to Richmond, California in 1947. At the tender age of 13, Sgt. Spearman lost his mother to a brain aneurysm, his father, John, was now left alone to raise the boys with the help of other family members also living in Richmond. As a young man, Isiah learned quickly that he would soon have to be the leader in his family if he wanted to eat and stay clothed. He would work evenings after school and weekends in the bean fields to help put food on the table, knowing that this was the only way to keep the siblings could stay together. He became a star athlete in high school, attending Encinal High School in Alameda, CA. He was a star player in football and in track & field.
Sgt. Spearman soon became a family man as he married his first wife Ida Bell Barker at the tender age of 19, and from the union were born two children Angela Spearman and Isiah Spearman now deceased. With little options and three mouths to feed he decided to join Uncle Sam and become a soldier in the Army. Sgt. Spearmen seeing sites he never seen before, traveled to the most exotic places of the world, countries in Europe visiting places such as Germany and France. He would quickly move up the ranks and become Sgt. Of his troop, avoiding near death and earning his famous gold tooth by pushing a fellow soldier out of the way of a land mind during the Vietnam War. Soon after returning state side he and Ms. Ida Barker separated. He would continue to work hard in his life, working for General Motors, and then with the United States Postal Service until he retired. The highlights of being a working man was buying property and living up to be the man his mother always hoped for him to be. The prize of it all was his famous yellow corvette, riding the streets of Oakland with the top down. Sgt. Spearman was a classic man as dressing to impress was his most favorite past time. He was able to welcome another child Sophina with her mother Sophia, where he took special care to be an active father in her life. He was a father to many, starting with his siblings, then his children, and even children who were not biological, including Sophia’s son Michael, who he helped to raise and care for him like he was his own.
Now retired and able to pick up his dreams of traveling all the states in America, coast to coast Sgt. Spearman began to settle in the city of his birth, Prescott, AR. He wanted to revisit this as his home and reunite with his father and mother’s family, meet his aunts, and get more history of his family before they moved to California. In Prescott, he would meet and marry Shell (Sonjia), his wife who has been with him for ten years and was with him until the sunset of his life. Together they would raise their children, whom he adorably loves, Jamesha (Honey), Thomesha (Baby), Myeshua (Ratzy), and Glenisha (Big girl). The family loved and adored him until the end of his days.
Sgt. Spearman is survived by his loving wife, Shell (Sonjia) Spearman and children. His siblings John and Louis Spearman and their children Isiah (Biggs), Lamar, Kimberly and Palestine, his children Angela Spearman and Sophina Spearman-Jones. Grandchildren Maurice, Jasmine, Isiah (Trae) and Sophiana. A host of family near and far, cousins, great cousins and a number of friends.
Funeral Services: Saturday, October 10, 2015 at 2:00pm @ New Beginnings C.O.G.I.C. 113 E. Elm St. Prescott AR., Rev Herbert Adams, Pastor
Interment: Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery, Little Rock AR
