Dr. Paul Blair Parks, III

Dr. Paul Blair Parks, III, of Aiken, SC, died on Tuesday, December 30, 2025, after an extended illness. He was the son of the late Paul Blair Parks, Jr. and Ella Howerton Whitted Parks. Paul was born Nov. 20, 1934, in Erwin, NC, and grew up in Durham, NC.

Dr. Parks was preceded in death by his beloved wife of 68 years, Pattie Egerton Parks. He is survived by his son, Blair Egerton Parks, married to Lyn Kautenberg Parks (deceased). Paul was the father of two predeceased daughters, Gail Lambeth Parks Morrisset and Charlotte Elizabeth Parks. He has many nieces and nephews as well as three step grandchildren, five step great-grandchildren, and four great-great grandchildren-in-law through Blair’s marriage to Lyn.

Dr. Parks graduated from Duke University in 1957 with a Bachelor of Science degree in physics. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree in nuclear physics from Duke in 1963. After serving a one-year post-doctoral appointment with the Duke Physics Department, he joined the E.I. DuPont Company at the Savannah River Laboratory. After DuPont gave up the management contract, and the Westinghouse Corporation took over, he stayed with that company and rose to the position of Senior Fellow Scientist before retiring in 1995. His research at SRL was mainly in the field of nuclear reactor safety.

Dr. Parks greatly enjoyed hunting and fishing. He and the late Dr. Richard Benjamin founded the Aiken Dove Club in about 1980. But his passion was singing. He studied for one year with the late Blanche Audrey of Aiken and then embarked on a decades long career, singing both classical music and in amateur musicals. He sang bass-baritone solos in numerous concerts with the Aiken Choral Society and the Augusta Choral Society in 1972 with the late Coile Scarborough as the first conductor. Late in his life, he also sang with the Masterworks Chorale.

He is probably best remembered for his nearly four decades of appearances with the Aiken Community Playhouse, the Augusta Players (once), the Aiken Diabetes Benefit, the Aiken Heart Fund Show, and the Aiken Kidney Benefit. He performed in 19 musical theater productions and had the male lead in 10 of them. His favorite roles were as Tevye in “The Fiddler on the Roof”, Professor Higgins in “My Fair Lady”, and Daddy Warbucks in “Annie” (twice). In addition, he had the male lead in three non-musical dramas with the Aiken Playhouse.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials to the Aiken Choral Society or to St. Thaddeus Episcopal Church in Aiken.

A committal service will be held at 1:30 PM, Thursday, January 8, 2026, in the St. Thaddeus Episcopal Church Cemetery

A private family service will be held at a later date.

SHELLHOUSE FUNERAL HOME, INC., 924 HAYNE AVE., AIKEN, SC