Another of the greatest generation passes

toolbeltexpert · June 2022

As a pastor in a small community, I met and learned alot from those folks who went thru some of the worst times in history. I am posting her obituary here. I will miss her. I think her story is so filled with adversity, but she was always cheerful and had a beautiful laugh.

Maria Denisenkaite Spiva was born on January 29, 1925 in a small village near Poltova, Ukraine. She was the youngest of four children, having two sisters and one brother. Maria's father died suddenly when she was five, leaving her mother to care for her four children and their farm alone. Maria‘s family was able to survive the famine induced by Stalin and the Russian government in 1933. The Ukrainian people were starving and hundreds of people were dying daily. Maria‘s mother was known to assist many of the starving people and nurse them back to health, likely setting the example that led to Maria‘s life of caring and kindness.

Around the age of 17, Ukraine was invaded by Germany, and Maria was forced by the German army into slave labor. She was transported to Germany and put to work in a factory producing goods for the German army. Many of the laborers were treated poorly and died from the work conditions and air raids. Fortunately, Maria was soon transported to a farm producing food for Germany, where she was forced to work for nearly three years.

After being liberated by allied forces, Maria was sent to the Displaced Persons camps located in Hanau Germany. On her way there, she traveled past the very factory she once worked in. However, seeing the smoldering ruins, a casualty of the war raging around them, she could only assume that most of the laborers were killed during the invasion.

As the end of WWII approached and following his landing on the beaches of Normandy, frontline Army medic, Sgt James B. Spiva was assigned to give medical aid to the people in the DP camps in Germany. It’s there where Maria met James, and they eventually married in Hanau in 1946.

With the enactment of the War Brides Act, Maria was able to come to the United States until James had fulfilled his military service commitment. She left Germany on June 13, 1946, arriving in Ellis Island by ship. Speaking little to no English, she boarded a train bound for Sparta, TN, where she was met at the train depot by James's father, Lem Spiva, a complete stranger at the time, but who would eventually become the father that she never had growing up. From there, she rode in a horse and buggy to Lost Creek, where she stayed with James’s family awaiting his return.

While James and Maria's journey began in the Lost Creek area of Sparta, TN, they later settled into their home in town on Clark Steeet for the next 65+ years. Together they raised two sons, James Walter (wife Susan) and Jerry Mark (wife Sherri). One of Maria's greatest desires was to see both of her sons receive a college education, and she was so proud when this hope was made real. She had one grandchild, Mark Logan, whom she doted on. She could often be seen in town taking him to the county fair, community center, blueberry picking, and her church.

Maria loved life. She cherished it because it was nearly taken from her many times in her younger life before coming to the US. She was a loving mother, skilled seamstress (making many quilts over the years), excellent (and competitive) card player, and an avid gardener. She was actively involved in the community and with the Sparta Church of the Nazarene until she was stricken by the cruel and progressive Alzheimer’s disease in 2013.

Maria touched the hearts of so many and will truly be missed by her family and friends. On 06/22/22 at 6:16 am, the world lost a small portion of history, along with important stories of struggle, perserverence, and survival that will never be heard again.

A private graveside service was held at Lost Creek Cemetery on Monday, June 27, 2022. Jamie McCormick officiated.