Argus Gene Parks

REVEREND ARGUS GENE PARKS LAKELAND - Gene Parks was born in 1929 to Harold Argus Parks and Lucy Mae (Woodham) Parks in rural Mississippi. This southern boy, who grew up with his parents sharecropping and working in the logging business through the Great Depression, always treasured his early years. From this background, he was chosen to be a voice for the underprivileged and disenfranchised. Freshly graduated from Vanderbilt Divinity School, he was hired as the chaplain for the maximum-security state penitentiary in Nashville, Tennessee. Though the environment and duties were somber, he was interested in improving the lives of the inmates, and started such programs as inmate talent shows (helping the one-hit group, 'The Prisonaires,' top the charts.) It was actions like these that show Gene's innateness to always reach for the good in people. Through the remainder of his life, Gene's unique skill for bringing disparate groups and people together led him to advocate for civil rights, including during the turbulent desegregation era (he was at The Rev. Martin Luther King's church in Atlanta the night he was assassinated), for farm worker rights (having worked directly with Cesar Chavez), for women's rights (having served on the National Board of Planned Parenthood) and for health care (having been appointed by the governor and chairing the then Statewide Health Coordinating Council.) As the first Urban Minister for the Florida United Methodist Conference, Gene gave a voice to the outreach ministry of the Church, having helped organize, sit on the board of, or chair over thirty-five community-based organizations addressing the many needs of the citizens of Jacksonville, FL. However, he never wore these as 'causes,' and most people never knew all he did. It was his gentle nature and his interest in people as individuals that made him so special. Each person was truly important to him. While he passed away on December 2nd, 2015, the goodness he wrought can continue, if we can only learn that it is how you make the other person feel. Among the many who love him remaining here are the absolute love of his life and partner since their days at Asbury College, his wife of 65 years, Kathleen Hendricks Parks; his daughters Robin Parks and Lisa (Parks) Abberger; his granddaughter, Anna Edwards; and his brother, Brent Parks and his family. Preceding him in death were his father, Harold Parks; mother, Lucy Mae Parks; and granddaughter, Lauren Edwards Behr. A service to honor him will be held at First United Methodist Church in the Wesley Center, 72 Lake Morton Drive, Lakeland, FL 33801 on Saturday, December 12, 2015 at 11 a.m. Donations to the following in his honor would be appreciated: The Bridge of Northeast Florida - http://www.bridgejax.com/ United Farm Workers - http://www.ufw.org/ Heifer International - http://www.heifer.org/ Written thoughts to the family can be sent c/o Lisa Abberger, 415 S. Kentucky Avenue, Lakeland, FL, 33801. Service: 12/12/2015 First United Methodist Church - The Wesley Center 72 Lake Morton Drive, Lakeland, Fl 33801