Pamela Watkins-Sparks, 34, a Chicago native who invented a life-size anatomy board used by many Catholic schools in the Chicago area, died Tuesday, March 14, in a car accident in Nigeria. Mrs. Watkins-Sparks, who lived in a suburb of Houston, was in Nigeria earlier this year because her husband was doing consulting work at a natural energy company there. She fell in love with the country and had brought her mother and four children to vacation at the time of the accident. Mrs. Watkins-Sparks went to Stanford University on a scholarship, graduating with degrees in history and psychology. She moved to Texas from the San Francisco area in 1995. In Missouri City, Texas, she fulfilled a lifelong dream and opened a private school for gifted children. The school was a natural extension of the home schooling she did for her children and neighborhood kids. “She always wanted to do something to improve the lot of African-American children,” said her mother, Saundra Watkins. “She wanted to improve their education.” The magnetic anatomy board, sold as the “Knowbody Board,” was marketed in the Midwest and the San Francisco area, her mother said. Other survivors include her husband, Keith Sparks; two daughters, Whitney and Haley; two sons, Brandon and Kyle; and a brother, Steven Watkins. Services were held Wednesday in Chicago.
