Constance ‘Connie’ Long Parks
August 11, 1923 — January 23, 2007
| The Baby (last born and last living of 15 siblings), Wife, Mother, Widower, Grandmother, Great-Grandmother, Friend to Many, Thespian, Adventurer, World Traveler.Constance Long was born in Greenville, S.C., and grew up in Union, S.C.As a young adult, Connie headed off from her hometown to New York City. After she spent several years in her twenties pursuing those “lights on Broadway,” Connie worked for Delta Airlines and headed to the West Coast where she met her husband, Theodore “Ted” Clifton Parks, in Sacramento, Calif., where he worked for United Airlines.They both enjoyed careers in the travel industry that ignited their joy of traveling and experiencing the new and far off.
Aside from their own experiences traveling, as they began raising their own family they began instilling in their children the value of learning and exploring different locations and cultures. They had three children born in San Francisco, Wanda, Polly and Ted Jr., and lived in several cities around the Bay Area before heading off to Elko, Nev., in 1956, where Ted became station manager at the MunicipalAirport with United Airlines and Connie had three more children, Wally, Susan and Mary Constance. While in Elko, Connie was drawn to the local Community Theater and began developing relationships there that led to active participation in local productions where she honed her skills including acting, directing, and stage managing. A new chapter of her life opened up when Ted got a new assignment to a small city in the CentralSan JoaquinValley. In 1968, she moved her brood from the high desert of Nevada to the irrigated desert of Visalia. Connie’s love of the stage was fulfilled with developing relationships with the Visalia Community Players. She also worked for many years as an agent with Lewis Travel Services in Visalia and Tulare. She lived a very fulfilling life and retired to travel with her husband and cared for him until his passing on November 4, 1988. She then relocated to Tucson, Ariz., in 1993 where she continued her adventures in traveling with her many lifelong friends and family. At the beginning of the New Millennium, she had made an accomplishment of having visited all seven of the world continents as she spent a warm day at Christmas on the continent of Antarctica. She had visited, in all, some 94 countries. She was active with Unitarian Universalists and was a supporter of Doctors Without Borders/ Medecins Sans Frontieres. “As the curtain closed on this sweet lady tonight, a light shines bright for her. One that will remember her. One that is crazy about her.” Friends and family are welcomed to join in a time to celebrate the life of our mother and a time of remembrance on Saturday, Feb. 17, at 2 p.m. at The Ice House Theater, on the corner of Race and Santa Fe in Visalia. Remembrances may be made in Connie Parks’ name to Doctors Without Borders at (212) 679-6800 or information online at www//msf.org. Originally published February 3, 2007 |
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