A celebration of life honoring Byron Parks will be the focus of the Parks Family Reunion Potluck Saturday, May 23, The informal gathering of family and friends is scheduled at noon in the Reydon American Legion Building.
Byron Parks died October 29, 2014 at his home in Montrose, Colorado and in following his request, cremation took place at that time under the care of Crippin Funeral Home & Crematory in Montrose. He asked that his ashes be buried in the family plot at Union Chapel Cemetery, northwest of Reydon, and his immediate family will do so prior to the noon gathering Saturday. The potluck reunion also came about as a result of his requests, because he did not want a traditional funeral.
Born Edsel Byron Parks on March 12, 1928, to Philip Henry and Pearlie Lee (Crabtree) Parks in El Dorado, Oklahoma, Byron was just a few months old when the Parks family relocated to their farm northwest of Reydon. He graduated from Reydon High School in 1946, received his Bachelor of Arts from (then) Panhandle A&M in Goodwell, Oklahoma and his Master of Arts from the University of Oklahoma in Norman. He was a teacher, principal and educator in every aspect of his working career and lived in Denver, Colorado for many years. Upon retiring from the Colorado State Department of Education, he moved to Montrose where he raised and raced quarter horses and remained there until the time of his death.
Survivors include his three children: daughter, Marque Iversen and her husband, Richard of Denver; son, Britt Parks and his wife, Cindi of Montose and daughter, Lisa Wittenberg and her husband, Jay also of Montrose; one sister, Nadia Martin of Reydon; five grandchildren; two great-grandchildren and a host of nieces and nephews, many of whom reside in Western Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle. He was preceded in death by two sisters and six brothers.
Cheyenne Star, May 21, 2015