John "Jack" LeRoy Spratte

John “Jack” Leroy Spratte, beloved father, grandfather, and great-grandfather died of natural causes on May 30, 2026, three days shy of his 95th birthday. He had been living in a memory care facility in Westminster, Colorado, to manage his Alzheimer’s disease since 2018.

Jack was born on a farm near Brandon, Iowa, on June 2, 1931. Growing up in the Great Depression shaped how he approached life and the virtues his family remembers him most for—frugality, generosity, and self-reliance.

His son, Mike, recalls his knack for hunting down a good deal on cars, campers, and trailers. Except in rare instances, Jack did all his own work on his cars and even those of his children and grandchildren, often volunteering his services. His son also remembers his determination to keep worn and disreputable vehicles running long after others would have upgraded.

In testament to his self-reliance, in 1968, Jack and his family built a house on a one-acre lot in Broomfield, Colorado. While a construction crew built the shell in a week, the family installed the shingles, gutters, siding, plumbing, heating, electrical, and flooring. All the work had to conform to county building codes and pass inspection.

Using his carpentry and mechanical skills, he made his children and grandchildren many gifts. His granddaughters Jaimie and Kelly recall him crafting highchairs, cradles, and benches for dolls as well as various stylized shelves and cabinets.

The same fearlessness that drove him to tackle just about any project also played out on family trips and outings. He once leveled a camper during a thunderstorm in rather unstable conditions. On a hike through Roxborough State Park, he nearly stepped on a prairie rattlesnake. Seeing the fear in his wife’s and grandchildren’s face, he grabbed a large, spiky log to fling the rattler off the trail. Fortunately, his son intervened, sparing Jack a fight that would have ended with him in the hospital staring down a costly bill for antivenom.

Jack was always willing to help his family. In addition to repairing cars, he volunteered his time in other family member’s kitchens and babysat his grandchildren. All of his children and grandchildren can recall a time when he helped each of us when we needed it most.

Jack married Mary Ann Monhesier on January 19, 1953, in Denver and remained devoted throughout their 67 years of marriage until Mary Ann died in 2020. They read their Bible together every night, whether on a camping trip or at his children’s homes. He accompanied her to her appointments and treatments as she battled breast cancer. Even fifty years into their marriage, he once remarked on the day they met, that had he known Mary Ann was living just down the street from him, he would have gone over there earlier.

He brought that same love and devotion to his entire family, attending countless holidays, birthdays, graduations, athletic events, and music recitals.

His granddaughter Kristin recalls even after his memory had faded, she took her daughter, Serena, to visit Jack during an Easter event at the Greenridge Place memory-care facility. Serena, then aged 12, hid her face with her hair. Kristin pointed to Serena and told her grandfather, “Your great-granddaughter Serena is here too, but she is hiding behind her hair.” Jack turned to Serena, swept her hair from her face and said, “You are beautiful.”

Jack was the second youngest of two brothers and two sisters, all of whom preceded him in death. Jack and Mary Ann’s oldest son, Thomas Mark Spratte, died in 2018. The couple is survived by their son, Michael Bernard and daughter, Karen Annette Drinnon. They are also survived by grandchildren Andria Hinds, Amber Garr, Thomas Drinnon, Jaimie Spratte, Tobin Spratte, Kristin Prather, Kelly Bell, and Johanna Spratte as well as 25 great-grandchildren.

As a private in the United States Army during the Korean War, Jack is buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver, Colorado—as he would have wanted, resting eternally side-by-side with his wife.g