Rev. Eloise Ann Parks

February 11, 1961 – October 23, 2021

A visitation will be held Saturday, November 6, 2021 at 1:00 PM and followed by a service honoring Eloise from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM at Sparkman Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 1029 South Greenville Ave, Richardson, TX 75081.

Eloise Ann Parks of Richardson, Texas passed away on October 23, 2021. She was born February 11, 1961 in Kediri, Java, Indonesia to missionary parents Keith and Helen Jean Parks. She graduated in 1979 from Thomas Jefferson High School in Richmond, Virginia and with a BA (1983) from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas. She attended Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky and graduated with her Masters in Religious Education (1993) from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, TX.

Eloise was a Clinical Pastoral Counselor / Chaplain who served in a number of places including Parkland Hospital in Dallas. She served as a Minister / Associate Pastor including at Pilgrim Church of Duxbury (UCC). She invested in people everywhere she lived including Virginia, Argentina, Brazil, Kentucky, Texas, and Massachusetts. What a friend and mentor posted is very true: "Eloise loved her family. She loved her friends. She loved Jesus, and she loved God’s world—all of it. She was a champion of the disenfranchised, a fierce advocate for justice.”

She was well known for her gifts of incredible jewelry (earrings, necklaces, etc.) and purses and for taking her nieces and nephews to eat at wonderful and interesting restaurants. She made cakes and Indonesian food for weddings and other special events.

She suffered through several major health issues in her last decade of life. It was difficult for her and those who loved her. Yet, we share the sentiments written by one of her nieces: "But the beautiful thing is that Jesus is the only one that gets the last word in her life. He was the theme running throughout it, and He is the One who has now called her home. Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the rest prepared for you. I celebrate her life and how she loved me and my family. I celebrate most of all that as our family grieves again, we do not grieve without hope."

Eloise invested deeply in friends as indicated in a friend’s post: "Through the thirty five plus years of our sisterhood, we experienced a great deal of life’s ups and downs. The stories are too numerous to write here. The lover of family, friends, purple, pastoral care, ministry, dragonflies, Mexican food, travel, pups, and New England suffers from stroke and related illnesses no more. I am grateful for her abiding friendship, for . . . being family, and the thoughtful ways she tried to care for many. Please pray for all who love her and will miss her. May we remember her laugh and huge heart of compassion."

She is survived by her father, Robert Keith Parks; her three brothers (and spouses): Randall (and Nancy) Parks, Kent (and Erika) Parks, Stan (and Kay) Parks; her seven nieces / nephews (and spouses): Jenny Parks (and Kevin Gregson), Jeff (and Hannah) Parks; Katy (and Keith) Leech, Lindsay Parks, Nöel Parks (and Anil Rajvaidya), Kaleb (and Whitney) Parks, Seth Parks; and her two grand-nephews, Sterling Parks, and Lewis Gregson, and her grand-niece, Joy Leech; and by other much-loved extended family and friends.

These verses represent both her life commitment as well as how the Lord has helped her now:

Isaiah 61:1-3: The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, 3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

As a family, we grieve a second time in recent weeks. About six weeks prior to Eloise’s homegoing, she and we lost our dear mother, Helen Jean Parks. Even as we grieve, we celebrate that mother and daughter are reunited.

We do not grieve like those without hope because as her friend expressed: "We thank God for her life and celebrate the incredible connections she made by loving her neighbors. She lived out her faith, created beauty, and now is whole in a way we can’t comprehend."

A niece concluded: "Praise Jesus, that He gets the final word. Not even death is the end for us. Love you, Aunt Eloise. Until we meet again. Hug Grandmom for us."

In lieu of flowers, the family suggest donations in memory of Eloise Ann Parks either to BEYOND to help the disenfranchised who have yet to hear of the life and justice Jesus brings; or to the Christian Women’s Job Corp which is equipping women in 200 locations around the country for life and employement.