Charles L. “Andy” Spratt, 90, of Danville, passed away Sunday, May 31, 2020, at Boone Memorial Hospital in Madison, following a long illness.
Born June 19, 1929 in Van, he was a son of Cecil E. and Bradie Spratt Dickens.
Andy graduated from Van High School in 1948 and served on active duty in the U.S. Air Force from 1949 to 1952. He was a combat veteran during the Korean Conflict, where he was a forward deployed electronics engineer installing ground-based aircraft navigational equipment at unimproved airstrips. Following his discharge from the military, he attended and graduated from Radio and Television School in Detroit, Michigan, where he then carried his electronics engineering skillset to the civilian world and worked as a Technical Representative for PHILCO Corp. in the upper Midwest states until 1962. He was then recruited by the National Security Agency (NSA), where he served the country with distinction for the next 27 years, working on cryptologic systems until retiring as a GS-15 in 1989.
His career took him the world over (filling-up six passports in the process) and allowed Andy and his family to live in faraway places such as Japan and England. Following his retirement, Andy and his wife, Nelda, settled down in the Summersville area for a few years before deciding to re-locate to their roots and to be closer to family in Boone County.
He was also an active and dedicated member of the Madison United Methodist Church, and often volunteered as an usher and maintained and operated the church’s sound system.
Andy’s other love – behind God and his wife and family – was going to the family camp in Pocahontas County to fish on the Greenbrier River and North Fork of Deer Creek.
He was preceded in death by his parents and eight siblings: Dan, Jack, Joy, Marguerite, Betty, June, Richard and Naomi.
Andy is survived by his wife of 67 years, Nelda Mitchell Spratt; his daughters, Lue Anne Horton, of Madison, and Andrea Fink (Pat), of Laurel, Maryland; his son, Charles E. Spratt, of Danville; brother Robert (JoAnn), of North Carolina; his grandchildren, Lauren Roeder (Mark), of Lexington, Virginia, Christopher Fink (Chris), of Columbia, Maryland, Jill Horton, of Madison, Kayde Sharp, of Marlinton, and CJ Spratt, of Eastman, Georgia; and eight great-grandchildren.
Visitation is scheduled for Thursday, June 4, between 1 and 2 p.m. at Handley Funeral Home in Danville, with military honors and burial immediately following at Memory Gardens Cemetery. Rick Swearengin and Tex Frye will officiate the ceremony, and Timothy Spratt will sing some of Andy’s favorite songs.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Andy’s name may be sent to Madison United Methodist Church, 367 State Street, Madison, WV 25130. Condolences can be sent to 59 Beulah Street, Danville, WV, 25053 or www.handleyfh.com
The family would like to thank the staff, doctors, and especially the nurses at Boone Memorial Hospital for their effort and compassion with Andy’s care.
