Myrna Mae Parker

Myrna Parker was much loved by her family. She is survived by her daughter, Lenore Parker, her granddaughters Sarah Parker and Isabella Parker and her great granddaughter Lorelai Parker. She is also survived by her sister, Karen Watts and Janie Stillwell, her brother David Heidbrink as well as her nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews. Myrna was preceded in death by her husband, Charles Parker and son, Robert Parker.

She was involved in volunteer work throughout her life. She was on the incorporating board member of Terros and Scottsdale Foundation for the Handicapped. She was a member and leader in both Scottsdale Women’s Club, Scottsdale Junior Women’s Club and PEO. Besides her family, she was the most proud of her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Social Work. She was married and pregnant in high school and not able to graduate because of policies in the mid/late 1950s. She promised her mom that she would finish high school and when Lenore went to college, Myrna completed and went on to get an AA from Scottsdale Community College and then on to bigger things! She was a DCS Case Manager and then a contracted training for DCS. She never met a person she didn’t tell she was a social worker!

Myrna was eventually diagnosed with vascular dementia – the decline in her cognitive ability became fodder for big laughs! The time Lenore called Myrna and she kept trying to answer the remote control for the tv, the time she could not figure out the name for French fries and said they were those potatoes that were fried, and the month she could only walk backwards to name a few. She always had such a sense of humor that even in the worst of times she tried to keep things light by jokes and sarcasm!

We will miss her more than she will miss us – she has her husband, son, favorite dog Jewel and favorite cat Dixie and all of her friends that have already left us to spend eternity with until we meet her again!