Obituary of Mary Elizabeth Parks

Mrs. Mary E. Parks, a beloved mother and grandmother, passed away Monday, December 16, 2024, in Southeast Health Medical Center, surrounded by her family. She was 97 years old. Funeral services for Mrs. Parks will be 11:00 A.M. Monday, December 23, 2024, in the chapel of Holman Funeral Home in Ozark with Reverend Doug MacCormack officiating. Interment will follow in Woodlawn Memory Gardens, Holman Funeral Home of Ozark directing. The family will receive friends at the funeral home in Ozark Monday from 10:00 A.M. until service time. Mrs. Parks was born December 12, 1927 in Manheim, Pennsylvania to the late Samuel and Frances Gaus. In her 97 years of life, Mary was known for her fierce independence, strength, fortitude, and often dry sense of humor. Before leaving the house, she was known to always have on jewelry, lipstick, and painted nails to match. She was a talented pianist who played both for Sunday service at church and for family when at home. She loved fashion and spending time shopping - in fact, she could outlast even the most experienced, committed shopper at the mall. Her shoe collection alone was an impressive feat. In 1947, she married Richard Paul Parks, Sr., after his passing on December 11, 1984, Mary lived on her own and served as the matriarch of her growing family. Her children and grandchildren have many fond memories, including those of her love of puzzles, her holiday sand tarts, her Pennsylvania Dutch idioms, her egg sandwiches and tuna salad, her entertaining phone calls, and her commitment to living life in her own way. Mary spent her last days celebrating her 97th birthday eating chocolate cake and spending time with her family before passing away peacefully on December 16th. Modeled after her own virtues, Mary has left a legacy of strong women in her family who credit her for their values and strength. She is survived by her children, Yvonne Walker (Charles), Richard Parks, Jr. (Kitta), and Elizabeth Skipper (Keith), along with many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Richard Parks, Sr., her daughter, April; brother, Charles Gaus (Kathryn); and sister, Dorothy Sonnon (Hubert). In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in her memory to Crossroads Baptist Church of Dothan, 2574 Westgate Pkwy, Dothan, Alabama 36303; or St. Jude Children’s Hospital, Attn: Memorial Giving, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, Tennessee 38105. Now also when I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come. Psalms 71:18