Philip C. Parks

Philip Clare Parks passed away peacefully on Saturday morning at Indian Hills Care Center in Sioux City at the age of 96. Burial will be at 10:00 a.m. at Memorial Park Cemetery with a funeral service following at 11:00 a.m. with Rev. David Schoop officiating on Wednesday January 3, 2007 at Calvary Lutheran Church. Visitation will be on Tuesday January 2, 2007 from 5-8 p.m. with family present from 6:30-8 p.m. and a prayer service at 7:00 p.m. all at the church. He was born on December 16, 1910 east of Leeds on the farm of his parents, William D Parks and Elizabeth Dunn Parks. He graduated as valedictorian of Tyler (MN) High School in 1929 on the eve of the Great Depression. He graduated in 1931 from Minneapolis Business School. After the loss of the family farm, he worked at odd jobs and for the Chicago Northwestern Railroad until leaving for California in 1935. He was employed by Douglas Aircraft and completed a course of study at Santa Monica Technical School as he progressed from Stockman to Hydraulics Foreman. On May 11, 1939, Phil was united in marriage with Helen Henrietta Lange, his wife of 49 years. In 1941, he volunteered for a two-year mission to Abadan, Iran, where he oversaw the assembly and flight testing of World War II aircraft. In 1943, he was sent to the Tulsa, OK Douglas plant until the end of the war, when he and his wife moved to Florence, MN. He farmed and owned a restaurant there, then moved to Sioux City, where he served in the Iowa Air National Guard. From there he owned a Case Farm Implement Store in Hawarden, IA, then was recalled by Douglas to Tulsa from 1952-1960 during the Cold War with the USSR. In 1960, the Parks family moved to Sioux City, where he worked as Quality Control Electrical Inspector for Wincharger and Dyna Technology until his retirement in 1976. His hobbies included gardening, playing his violin and especially his harmonica in his beautilful yard at "Phil's Corner" in Leeds and at Indian Hills Care Center, "tinkering" in his garage, and fishing. Mr. Parks was preceded in death by his wife, Helen, an infant son Bryce Allen; his beloved mother Elizabeth Dunn Parks and his father William D Parks, his brothers Jim, Mike, Bill and Jack Parks, and his sisters Mary Keyes, Marguerite Schuldt, Irma Jones, and Luella Nelson. He is survived by his two daughters and their spouses: Phyllis (Parks) and Verlin Cadwallader, Sherry (Parks) and Stan Fredericks; grandchildren Rene Fredericks, Lisa Raabe Spoon (Walter), Randy Fredericks (Cathy); and great-grandchildren Tyler Spoon, Katie Spoon, and Andrew Zafer. Survivors also include Amy, Troy, Jaydon, Dylan, Erica, and Zaya Stuart; Paul Cadwallader, Traci Ostby, and Cole; and Ryan, Maria and Jakob Cadwallader,

Memorials may be directed to Clavary Lutheran Church or Hospice of Siouxland.