RICHARD E. PARKS, LCDR, USN
Richard Parks '54
Lucky Bag
From the 1954 Lucky Bag:
Richard Earl Parks
Weirton, West Virginia
When the time came in 1949 to send names in, to take competitive exams for entrance to old Yoosnay Dick wasn't around. But three days before the exams his name was on the list. How? I guess he must have pulled some strings. The rest was easy and he was in. Here, as in high school, Dick had no trouble with academics. But if a groan was heard when he was slipping out those marks, one of his grades must have dropped .001. Plebe year, during fall athletics, Parksey pulled a fast one. One day he went out for crew, decided it wasn't his sport, never appeared at the boathouse again, and joined the famous radiator squad. However, the other years he donated his services to the batt football team. Any service he enters will be getting a good man. He does light up like a lightbulb, though, when you mention Naval Air.
LACROSSE—2,1. FOOTBALL—4,3,2,1. BASKETBALL—4,3. FIELDBALL—2,1. BOAT CLUB—4. FOREIGN LANGUAGES CLUB—4,3.
Richard Earl Parks
Weirton, West Virginia
When the time came in 1949 to send names in, to take competitive exams for entrance to old Yoosnay Dick wasn't around. But three days before the exams his name was on the list. How? I guess he must have pulled some strings. The rest was easy and he was in. Here, as in high school, Dick had no trouble with academics. But if a groan was heard when he was slipping out those marks, one of his grades must have dropped .001. Plebe year, during fall athletics, Parksey pulled a fast one. One day he went out for crew, decided it wasn't his sport, never appeared at the boathouse again, and joined the famous radiator squad. However, the other years he donated his services to the batt football team. Any service he enters will be getting a good man. He does light up like a lightbulb, though, when you mention Naval Air.
LACROSSE—2,1. FOOTBALL—4,3,2,1. BASKETBALL—4,3. FIELDBALL—2,1. BOAT CLUB—4. FOREIGN LANGUAGES CLUB—4,3.
Loss
Dick was lost when his A-3B Skywarrior crashed in northeastern California on April 5, 1967. Three others were also killed.
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz:
Born in Pennsylvania, Richard married Wanda Vernon on June 10, 1954, in Weirton.
In April 1955, he was at Saufley Field for formation flying. Next assignment was for the gunnery phase of flight training at Barin Field Naval Auxiliary Air Station at Foley, Alabama.
In August 1955, he completed carrier pilot qualification after six landings aboard the light aircraft carrier USS Saipan in the Gulf of Mexico.
He received his “wings of gold” in January 13, 1956, at Corpus Christi. He was assigned to the Naval Air Station in Quonset Point, Rhode Island.
Next he was to undergo instrument flight training at the Corey Field Naval Auxiliary Air Station at Pensacola.
His father worked in a steel mill in Weirton.
He was survived by his wife; three children Richard, Suzanne and Steven; his parents; two sisters, Mrs. Charles (Patricia) Granato and Mrs. Charles Pugh; maternal grandparents Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Brewer; and paternal grandfather Richard Parks.
Richard is buried in Ohio.
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