Beloved husband, father, grandfather, Melvin Lee Parks, Jr. passed away peacefully on Aug. 2, 2020 at his home in Nanticoke, MD. (Age: 70) Born in Pulaski, VA, he was the son of the late Melvin Parks, Sr. and Marlene Swindle Parks.
He married Loralie Tate Parks, his loving wife of 48 years, in 1972. Completing his PhD in Industrial Engineering from Virginia Tech in 1981, Lee began a long and enjoyable career with DuPont in Wilmington, DE.
One of the highlights of his position was the four years his family spent living in Tokyo, Japan where he had regional responsibilities. This allowed the family to travel extensively in Asia. After returning to the US, Lee and Loralie continued to travel throughout the world. Upon retiring they continued their love of travel by selling their home, buying an RV and spending eight wonderful years traveling.
As much as Lee enjoyed traveling, his true love was spending time with his children (Raymond Scott Parks of Austell Ga and Michelle Scheibe of Kennett Square, Pa). Upon settling down in Nanticoke, MD, Lee was able to enjoy lots of family visits. He loved time spent with son-in-law Paul Scheibe and grandsons, Christian and Henry, fishing and crabbing. He enjoyed visiting them in PA as well, where he was the proud grandfather of two terrific athletes.
Memories of this kind and gentle man will live on in his family as well as his with his in-laws (Ray and Verna Orendorf of Nanticoke, MD) , surviving brother (David Parks and wife Elaine of Roanoke, VA) special niece (Josie Johnson of Manassas, VA), and his many friends and co-workers.
Always the optimist, one of Lee’s sayings in the last few days was “Remember Loralie the glass is still half full. I may have to change the size of the glass, but it’s still half full.”
Services will be private. In lieu of flowers, the family requests you consider a donation to your local charity of choice. And like Lee, be kind and gentle.
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