Accountant.
Born at Winnipeg on 16 September 1908, son of Frank E. Sprague (?-?) and Jacqueline Moir (1881-1932), he trained as a chartered accountant and became an active businessman in the Winnipeg area. He articled to Black, Hanson and Company in 1926 before receiving his degree in chartered accountancy in 1932 at the University of Manitoba. He later took courses in business administration at Columbia University in the summer of 1935. After his 1932 graduation, he became the senior auditor in the firm of Millar, Macdonald, a position he occupied until establishing the firm Laird, Sprague and Company with Gilbert Laird in 1938. Laird and Sprague joined with McDonald Currie and Company in 1956 and eventually with Coopers Lybrand. He also lectured to accountancy students at the University of Manitoba for six years beginning in 1938. During the Second World War, he acted as supervisory cost accountant to the department of munitions and supply (1941-1945). He retired from the accounting profession in 1958.
He worked with other Winnipeg businessmen and invested in such local firms as Stovel Advocate Press, Selkirk Metal Products, Columbia Metal Products, and James B. Carter, an auto parts manufacturer. After Budd Automative bought Carter in 1971, he retired from business management. The organizations with which he was associated included the Bank of Canada, Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, Chamber of Commerce, and Canadian Manufacturers Association, which he served as President (1972-1973). He was also elected Chairman of the Industrial Development Board in Spring 1948.
He was active in the Conservative Party, and was a member of the Manitoba Club (1935-1940), Kinsmen Club, and Winnipeg Winter Club. A gifted athlete, he was a member of the St. Charles Country Club in Winnipeg and the Royal Poinciana Golf Club in Naples, Florida where he spent many winters.
He was married twice, first on 17 October 1936 to Catherine Maurine Maclean (?-?, daughter of Neil John MacLean) and they had a son, John David MacLean Sprague (1940-1942) before divorcing in September 1945. On 26 December 1945, he married widow Shirley Helen Stewart (1920-1995, daughter of James Stewart) at the First Presbyterian Church and they had three sons: Stewart Sprague, David Sprague, and John T. Sprague (c1956-2012).
He died at Toronto, Ontario on 20 May 1996 and was buried in the Kildonan Cemetery.
Marriage registration [Frank E Sprague, Jacqueline Moir], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Birth registration [John Daniel Sprague], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Death registrations [Jacqueline Sprague, John David MacLean Sprague], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Marriage registration [Catherine Maurine Maclean, John Daniel Sprague], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“Beautiful ceremony unites Catherine Maurine Maclean and John Daniel Sprague,” Winnipeg Tribune, 17 October 1936, page 15.
Obituary [John MacLean Sprague], Winnipeg Tribune, 5 May 1942, page 4.
“Mr. Justice Donovan grants final divorces,”Winnipeg Free Press, 19 September 1945, page 5.
“Quiet ceremony held Boxing Day,”Winnipeg Free Press, 28 December 1945, page 6.
“Cost accountant and athlete,” Winnipeg Tribune, 13 July 1948. [Manitoba Legislative Library, Biographical Scrapbook B20, page 25]
Obituary [Shirley Sprague], Winnipeg Free Press, 10 August 1995, page 66.
Obituary [Daniel Sprague], Winnipeg Free Press, 24 May 1996, page 35.
Obituary [John T. Sprague], The Globe and Mail, 22 September 2012.
This page was prepared by Sarah Ramsden.
Page revised: 30 May 2024
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