Stewart Gordon Talbot Parks

Gordon Parks, was born on November 27, 1917 in Baltimore, MD

Gordon attended the engineering program at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. He married Lorraine Schmidt in 1940. During World War II he worked at Holcomb Steel Industries, a defense contractor, in Syracuse, NY.

After the war Gordon became a home builder in Central New York and rose to become the President of both the Home Builders Association of Central New York and the New York State Association of Home Builders. He was also on the board of directors of the National Association of Home Builders receiving the prestigious "Life Spike" award.

Gordon was an avid sailor having grown up sailing Maryland's Chesapeake Bay. He continued to sail on the lakes of central and upper New York including Lake Ontario where the family would vacation at favorite spots like Toronto and Kingston in Ontario, Canada. The couple sailed their sailboat from Lake Ontario to Key West Florida in 1980.

In 1997 Gordon and Lorraine moved to Canyon Lake, CA where they lived until May 2012 when they moved to the Sun West Retirement Village in Hemet.

He passed on February 24, 2013 at home in Hemet, CA with his wife and son at his side. He is survived by his wife of 72 years, Lorraine, son Stewart, and grandchildren Sarah Parks Gates and Jamey Parks.