In Memoriam of Dr. Christopher Spradley

April 12, 1973-July 17, 2015

In each of us, there remains a child. As we pass through the years of childhood, we are told by society to grow up, to be a man or to be a lady and to put down childish things.

For many of us, we learn to stifle that child, to set him in the corner and let the grown up do the talking, as it were.

Not so with our beloved Chris Spradley. He carried the childlike awe and excitement for life, for today, for tomorrow and for tomorrow’s tomorrow in his heart, on his face and in his open love for the ones he called friends and family.

Dr. Spradley … perhaps the only ones to call him Doctor were his patients at Scott & White… but to the rest he will always remain Chris. Chris attacked life. He relished life. He shared life.

Dr. Christopher Spradley’s life ended at about 1 a.m. July 17, 2015 as the result of a tragic accident on the property that he and his life partner Will Lowery had recently purchased. Chris Spradley was born in Nacogdoches to Tucker Randall and Christi Spradley on April 12, 1973.

That’s the official record of it.

But the record in the hearts of his friends and his family is that he died while sharing the joy and the awe of his life with good friends.

Perhaps this awe-inspired life of Chris’s is the result of his having been dealt a tough hand from the start of it. A congenital heart defect almost guaranteed that his life would be cut short and full of pain. And it was full of pain. Chris carried the visible scars of open heart surgeries performed on him as a child. He also carried the internal pain of arthritis. But you would not know this from his smile. As a result of this, Chris was called to medicine, to healing others.

After graduating from his hometown high school, Robert E. Lee High in the east Texas town of Tyler, Spradley went on to Texas A&M University, where he graduated in 1995 with a bachelor of science degree.

He then went on to the Texas A&M University System Health Science Center College of Medicine in College Station to earn his Doctor of Medicine in 2000. After a residency in internal medicine at Scott & White Hospital through the Texas A&M University System Health Science Center, he became a Fellow in Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at Scott & White Hospital, Texas A&M Health Science Center.

He specialized in critical care medicine, pulmonary arterial hypertension, medical diseases of the chest, sleep disorders, right heart catheterization and palliative care.

That is the official record of Dr. Chris Spradley. The unofficial record is this: he was a healer. Nothing pleased him more than to announce his arrival home to his husband Will with the words: “Good news! No one died today.”

Home for Chris was the Inn. He and Will have owned Inn on the Creek since 2005. They have expanded the property over the years to include one of Salado’s favorite places to gather for a bite and a drink, The Shed, and the elegant Alexander’s Distillery, both of which were jewels in his eyes. He loved the partnership of business ownership with his husband Will Lowery.

As a business owner, he was an avid believer and supporter of the Village of Salado. He was very excited about the next chapter of the Inn on the Creek and wanted to share that good news with everyone.

Chris met his husband Will 14 years ago, while working on his residency, and the two never parted.

Will and Chris lived for their family. Chris is survived by his husband Will Lowery, his brother Matt and sister-in-law Kelly Gilliam Spradley, his grandmother Neta Hanna and his uncle and aunt David and Becky Hanna.

A Memorial Service  will be held 3 p.m. Saturday, July 25 at Salado United Methodist Church. The family invites his friends to join them in a Celebration of his Life at The Venue directly following the service.

His ashes will be spread in Salado Creek, joining his mother Christi’s.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Salado Community Foundation, a 501(C)3 foundation, for the establishment of the Dr. Christopher Spradley Memorial Garden to honor his life. Memorials may be sent to the Salado Community Foundation, P.O. Box 326, Salado, TX 76571.