SERVICES for Mrs. Parks will be a held at
Hill and Son Funeral Home in
Appleton City, Missouri on
Saturday, October 19, 2013 at
1:00 p.m.

VISITATION will be at
Hill and Son Funeral Home
Friday, October 18, 2013 between
7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

INTERMENT will be in
Kidd's Chapel Cemetery
rural Appleton City, Missouri

The family suggests a MEMORIAL may be made to Kidd's Chapel Cemetery.

Doris LaVerne Parks was born 24 July 1920 in rural Missouri near the town of Lowry City to Hattie (Holland) and Robert Parks. Doris passed away in her sleep in Murrieta, California 7 October 2013 as the result of a lengthy battle with Alzheimer's and a recent stroke. She was 93 years old.

Doris accepted Christ as her personal savior at an early age and was baptized in 1936. She was married to Joe Short in June of 1975, who unfortunately passed away three short years later. Doris will be laid to rest beside her mother and father in the Kidd's Chapel Cemetery near Appleton City, Missouri October 19 2013.

Doris was preceded in death by her parents, Robert (Rob) and Hattie Parks, her husband Joe Short, her brothers Clester Parks, Kenneth Dale Parks, her half-sister and brother, Ester Jones and Gladden Parks, and her stepson David Short. She is survived by her brothers, Keith Parks of Wetumpka, AL, Glenn Parks of Independence, MO, Jack Parks of Murrieta, CA and nieces, Sharon Rapp of Prairie City, MO, Becky Rellihan of Kansas City, MO, Karen Sherwood of Atlanta, GA, Rhonda Smith of Concordia, MO, Rochelle Keene of St Louis, MO, Stephanie Kinion of St Charles, MO, and nephews, Robert Parks of Lee's Summit, MO, Kyle Parks of Cowgil, MO, Steve Parks of Murrieta, CA.

Her dedication to family and friends was unshakable. She was always there to help with whatever the situation and provide a steadying influence. In her early retirement years, she cared for her parents and relished in taking them on trips to sightsee, visit distant relatives and enjoy life. She provided care for her mother through her last years. Her church friends could always rely on her for help with everything from kind words to direct participation in meeting their needs. Every place she lived, she made lifelong friendships.

Doris graduated from Appleton City High School with the class of 1938. She received her Bachelor's Degree in English from Missouri State University after years of correspondence classes and summer schools, while teaching in a one room schoolhouse in the Taberville, MO community. She later received her Master's Degree in English from Colorado State. She taught in Huston, MO for a number of years and then followed her family to California where she taught in the public school system for the rest of her working life. Though she retired at age 63, she would periodically substitute teach until age 70. She is thought to have instructed more than 10,000 students in proper grammar.

She loved to read and also wrote much poetry with a highlight of pleasure being the composition of her yearly Christmas Letter in rhyme. It always had her message of God's love interlaced with the happenings of the previous year along with her ever present sense of humor. She loved music of all types, but particularly enjoyed singing the old-time hymns during Sunday worship service.

Doris loved to travel and did a significant amount of it. She was able to visit nearly all 50 states and toured Asia, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Her appetite for seeing new things, places and people was there even as her health declined.

It is nearly impossible to remember Doris without thinking of her absolute passion for cooking and feeding her family and friends. Wherever she went she would somehow always end up in the kitchen preparing food for the next meal. Her love of church potluck dinners and the accompanying Christian fellowship was undeniable. She was a good cook with many of her recipes dating back to her teenage years preparing midwestern farm cuisine. Doris was a remarkable woman who made the most of her time on earth and lived a full, rewarding life. She exhibited honesty and morality in all her actions. She served the Lord as none other and had an unerring sense of right and wrong