Celebration of Life Service
Sun, Oct 23
12:00 PM
Peace Chapel
Teena Sparcino was lovingly installed as a Prayer Chaplain at Unity Church of Clearwater in 2010 . . . . At that time, Teena said of her initial Sunday stop at Unity Church of Clearwater nearly six years earlier: “I knew I was home and that was it.”
Since that time, Teena, who migrated to Florida via Buffalo, Toronto and California, devoted volunteer teaching time to
our Youth Ministry, performed in the Unity Choir, and was also elected to a three year term on our UCC Board of Directors, where she served with great dedication.
Raised in the Catholic faith until the age of thirteen, Teena was always a curious child, searching for answers “as to what this life is all about” at a very young age. She studied Eastern philosophy and joined the Theosophical Society when she was only sixteen. She became a devotee of Vaishnavism, a tradition of Hinduism requiring a strict vegetarian diet. Although this way of life was very satisfying for Teena for nearly thirty years, subsequent health conditions required her to adjust the dietary requirements of her religious path. That is when she felt led to discover Unity.
Teena believed there are many paths to God and that only “cultural differences” separate the approaches of individual faiths. Therefore, she explained that she began to experience what she called a “natural evolution to Unity” — an uncluttered progression from East to West, resulting in a comfortable, open spirituality that included more similarities than differences to her former spiritual paths. As a heart-centered devotee of the divinity indwelling all the world and its people, Teena naturally enjoyed our classes and services and felt at home in Unity.
Teena had innate compassion for all beings and became a Registered Respiratory Therapist. Each of Teena’s children was eventually drawn to the nursing profession. She loved talking about her three wonderful children and her three “great” grandchildren, too. We know that her love enfolds them forever.
Teena also loved music and had a very sweet, soothing voice. In addition to offering an occasional solo in the Unity choir, Teena became accomplished in playing guitar and ukulele and was a member of emPower Music and Arts. She loved our Café concerts and Posi-Palooza’s here at Unity, too. Her creativity was expressed in writing and performing lovely spiritual songs and through her beautiful textile creations. Although her health challenges over the past few years required continuous medical attention and kept her closer to her home, Teena was always with us in Spirit and we feel that her consciousness continues to bless her Unity family. Teena, we love you, we bless you, and we see you radiant with happiness and free, forever free.
A simple Celebration of Life in honor of Teena will be held in our Peace Chapel from noon to 12:30 PM