RICHARD E. PARKS, LCDR, USN
Richard Parks '54
Lucky Bag
From the 1954 Lucky Bag:
Richard Earl Parks
Weirton, West Virginia
When the time came in 1949 to send names in, to take competitive exams for entrance to old Yoosnay Dick wasn't around. But three days before the exams his name was on the list. How? I guess he must have pulled some strings. The rest was easy and he was in. Here, as in high school, Dick had no trouble with academics. But if a groan was heard when he was slipping out those marks, one of his grades must have dropped .001. Plebe year, during fall athletics, Parksey pulled a fast one. One day he went out for crew, decided it wasn't his sport, never appeared at the boathouse again, and joined the famous radiator squad. However, the other years he donated his services to the batt football team. Any service he enters will be getting a good man. He does light up like a lightbulb, though, when you mention Naval Air.
LACROSSE—2,1. FOOTBALL—4,3,2,1. BASKETBALL—4,3. FIELDBALL—2,1. BOAT CLUB—4. FOREIGN LANGUAGES CLUB—4,3.
Richard Earl Parks
Weirton, West Virginia
When the time came in 1949 to send names in, to take competitive exams for entrance to old Yoosnay Dick wasn't around. But three days before the exams his name was on the list. How? I guess he must have pulled some strings. The rest was easy and he was in. Here, as in high school, Dick had no trouble with academics. But if a groan was heard when he was slipping out those marks, one of his grades must have dropped .001. Plebe year, during fall athletics, Parksey pulled a fast one. One day he went out for crew, decided it wasn't his sport, never appeared at the boathouse again, and joined the famous radiator squad. However, the other years he donated his services to the batt football team. Any service he enters will be getting a good man. He does light up like a lightbulb, though, when you mention Naval Air.
LACROSSE—2,1. FOOTBALL—4,3,2,1. BASKETBALL—4,3. FIELDBALL—2,1. BOAT CLUB—4. FOREIGN LANGUAGES CLUB—4,3.
Loss
Dick was lost when his A-3B Skywarrior crashed in northeastern California on April 5, 1967. Three others were also killed. He is buried in Ohio and was survived by his wife, the former Wanda Vernon; three children Richard, Suzanne and Steven; his parents; two sisters, Mrs. Charles (Patricia) Granato and Mrs. Charles Pugh; maternal grandparents Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Brewer; and paternal grandfather Richard Parks.
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