Services for firefighter are set

Tuesday, April 30, 2002 | 9:21 a.m.

Services for a Las Vegas firefighter killed Friday in a head-on collision en route to the Laughlin River Run will be 1 p.m. Wednesday in Henderson.

Kevin Sparks, 38, and his 26-year-old fiancee, Brandy Cherry-Thornhill, were riding motorcycles on U.S. 95 when an oncoming car drifted into their lane and struck and killed them 15 miles north of Searchlight about 1:45 p.m., the Nevada Highway Patrol said.

No services have been set for Cherry-Thornhill, an American Medical Response paramedic and mother of one.

Services for Sparks, a seven-year veteran of the Las Vegas Fire Department and native Las Vegan, will be at Central Christian Church, 1001 New Beginning Drive in Henderson. Visitation will be until 7 p.m. today at Palm Mortuary-Eastern. Burial will be in Palm Valley View Cemetery.

A memorial fund has been established for Sparks by the Las Vegas Firefighters IAFF Local 1285. Donations can be made at Bank of America for the Memorial Fund for Kevin Sparks, Act. No. 004964696213.

Sparks is survived by his parents, Josephine and Gene Sparks, both of Las Vegas; three sisters, Treva Hunt-Spencer and Regina Causey, both of Henderson, and Glenda McBride of Las Vegas; and a brother, Perry Sparks of Las Vegas.

Cherry-Thornhill is survived by a daughter, Kourtny McKayla Cherry of Henderson; her mother, Patricia Cherry of Las Vegas; her father, Wayne Thornhill of Big Springs, Calif.; a brother, Alan Thornhill of Lookout, Calif.; a sister, Traci Thornhill of Las Vegas; two grandmothers, Martha Cherry of MacDoel, Calif., and Lora Thornhill of Yreka, Calif.; an aunt, Ruth Ann Cherry of Klamath Falls; and an uncle, Robert Thornhill of Salem, Ore.

The accident remains under investigation. Charges have not been filed, the NHP said.

Palm Mortuary, 7400 W. Cheyenne Ave., is handling her arrangements. Palm Mortuary, 7600 S. Eastern Ave., is handling Sparks' arrangements.