Parlea Park

Columbia: Parlea C. Park, 88, widow of James S. Park, Jr., died Friday, July 15th. The visitation will be held at Shives Funeral Home, 5202 Colonial Drive, Columbia, SC on Sunday, July 17 between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. A graveside service will be held at Elmwood Cemetery on Monday, July 18 at 10:00 a.m.

Mrs. Park grew up at the Clemson University Sandhills Experimental Station and was a graduate of Winthrop College and the University of South Carolina. She taught at Denmark High School, the Carolina Children’s Home, and Watkins School between 1945 and 1955 as well as junior-high and high school home economics, mathematics, and science in Richland County District 2 until 1983. Mrs. Park was a member of Main Street Methodist Church. She spent her free time tutoring and mentoring students through the Lunch Buddy Program and served as a volunteer with the Palmetto Health Richland Children’s Hospital and Ronald McDonald House for 25 years. She was a Teacher of the Year at E.L. Wright Middle School, was Woman of the Year at Main Street Methodist Church, and received the Ann Wallace Spirit Award for her service in the Palmetto Health Volunteer Auxiliary.

Mrs. Park is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Jane P. Gillette and John Gillette of Mechanicsville, VA; her son and daughter-in-law, Drennan Park and Diana C. Park of Beaufort, SC; and three grandchildren, Dr. Katherine Gillette and Sarah Beth Gillette of Mechanicsville, VA, and William Gillette of Grand Junction, CO.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Palmetto Health Richland Children’s Hospital or the Ronald McDonald House, 7 Richland Medical Park, Columbia, SC 29203.