Tom Parks

1941 - 2021

Tom Parks

3/14/1941 - 11/21/2021

Tom Parks, long time Rogue Valley resident passed away from cancer November 21, 2021. Thomas was born to Charles and Virginia Parks in California. Twin sisters Jane and Martha followed three years later. Their family grew up in Pasadena. where Tom played baseball, held a paper route and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. Tom graduated high school in 1959 and attended Stanford University. He graduated with a degree in mathematics and went on to serve in the newly formed Peace Corps in Nigeria. On the eve of his flying out to serve, he witnessed the momentous March on Washington which stood with him and of which he spoke often throughout his life. Upon his return to the US Tom took a job at Alfred College in New York teaching mathematics prior to entering law school. Tom was never one to call attention to his accomplishments despite graduating from two prestigious universities. After receiving his law degree from Duke in 1970 he passed the bar exam and began his lifelong career as an attorney. He took a job with a large law firm in Phoenix, Arizona to be near his sister Martha and her husband Don. In 1975, a toddler and a preschooler from the down the street wandered into his house and thus started a new family. Tom married widowed Margaret "Cindy" Higgins in 1976, and the family of four then moved to idyllic Jacksonville, Oregon to "get back to the land" the next year. In the little town Tom soon became known as a local lawyer, a volunteer fireman, and later he served as Mayor. Tom and Cindy opened a Bed and Breakfast in their rambling 100-year-old house on 5 acres at the edge of town. Though he was busy as mayor, he spent hours every week playing with his children. He passed along his lifelong love of bicycling (he even rode across the US), baking bread, and enjoying peanut butter right off the spoon. He loved The Beach Boys, and taught his kids how to play the piano, the guitar, and to sing in harmony. Tom also enjoyed many decades-long friendships with local people from the law community and beyond. He spoke to them almost monthly until his death in November. Wherever Tom went he made friends.

By 1990, Cindy and Tom moved to Medford to downsize as they looked forward to Cindy's retirement. In May of 1994 sadly Cindy died after a long battle with cancer. Tom decided to travel again, on his bicycle, and lived in San Luis Obispo, California for six years. He then took yet another bike trip that resulted in a stop in Sisters, Oregon which later resulted in his living there for the next 18 years. There he read The New Yorker, worked in a local bakery, listened to NPR, and lived a simple life for many years. In 2020, Tom was diagnosed with cancer and eventually went to Portland for treatment. After a year in Portland of surgery and other treatments, Tom was moved to Colorado for the short remainder of his life.

Tom was predeceased by his parents and his wife Cindy Parks. He leaves behind his two children, Rob (Jennifer) Parks of Ashland, and Julie (Alan) Jackson or Medford, his grandchildren, and his two sisters Jane Thompson (Scott) of Canby, OR, and Martha Chivens of San Luis Obispo, CA. He is sorely missed by his lifelong friends from California and Oregon. We are eager for his friends and loved ones to celebrate his life and share favorite stories and memories together. Please contact his children (Rob and Julie) for more details. The family welcomes donations to the Elderabuse.org foundation as an expression of sympathy instead of flowers.