Mrs. Minta Parks Gresham

Remembering Our Mother By Rhonda & Cheryl Our mother, Minta B Parks Gresham, was born in Fairbanks, La in 1921. She was the fifth of six children of Frank and Rosa Etta Stewart Parks. Her birth was unique in that she was the only child in the family to have a doctor present at her birth. The doctor’s wife was named Minta. The “B� stood for Byron, the doctor’s first name. Thus, she was named Minta B, pronounced as Minna-B . However, her birth certificate shows no middle name or initial, merely Minta Parks. Mom started 1st grade in Swartz, La, where her father worked as a foreman in the gasoline section of United Carbon. Her family lived comfortably in a “company� home. After 3rd grade the family moved to Alto, La. to another gasoline plant. This company home had indoor plumbing and flushing the toilet was really cool! After 6th grade, Minta rode the bus to Mangham HS where she graduated after 11th grade in the top 10% of her class. She was also voted secretary of her graduating class. Minta B went to Texas A&I in Kingsville, Texas after high school. She left to attend Durham Business School in Alice, Texas where she studied accounting and bookkeeping. Her first job was at the Ford dealership in Alice. After working several jobs acquiring a higher salary and more experience, she landed a good job at the Alice Hotel. It was during this time that she met a young Marine stationed in Corpus Christi, her future husband and our dad, Gene Gresham. Mom was again promoted to a larger hotel- this one in El Paso, and Daddy was sent to OCS in Virginia. They kept in touch through some phone calls, but mostly the mail. Roughly a year later, the Marine proposed and Minta B married Albert Eugene Gresham on January 4, 1945 in New Bern, NC. They would stay together for almost 66 years! After living in several places, the couple settled in Kingsville, Tx where Daddy attended Texas A&I University and graduated with a physics degree. He was hired by Halaburton Oil shortly after graduation. It was at this time that their two girls were born: Cheryl in Kingsville in 1948, and Rhonda in Abilene in 1949. The girls were 19 months apart. Working in the oil fields was lucrative, but required moving often. Mom did not like the constant moving with two babies. This prompted Daddy to take a job with Civil Service, and the young family moved to Biloxi, Mississippi where Gene taught electronics at Keesler AFB. Six years later, Gene was hired by NASA and the young family moved to Athens, Alabama. In 1956, the final member of the family, our brother, Ronald Jay, was born. The family lived in Athens until a home could be bought in Huntsville closer to Daddy’s job with NASA. The family moved in to a new home in Huntsville in Aug 17, 1957. Mom said it was “the hottest day in the year�! She lived in the home at 600 Vance Rd until her death on Dec 22, 2010- 53 years! Since Gene retired in 1974 at only 53, the couple traveled extensively until 2008. They visited, to name only a few, Singapore, Hawaii, Alaska, and Costa Rica several times. They took 35 cruises and Mom went through the Panama Canal at least a dozen times! When Minta B wasn’t traveling to exotic places, she was frequently visiting her children and grandchildren. She visited her 9 grandchildren in Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, and Illinois frequently throughout her life. In addition to traveling, Mom was a doting grandmother. Her grandchildren all looked forward to her visits because of the time she would spend playing with them. She played card games and dominos with them at each visit. From Little league games to tennis matches- she enjoyed watching her grandkids perform. And everyone enjoyed her cooking! She was also an excellent bridge player. She and my dad played Duplicate Bridge for years. And she was extremely skilled at crossword puzzles and Scrabble. Even at the very end of her life, she could still work crossword puzzles. Mom’s life was ended by ALS, a cruel motor neuron disease. We are not sure how long she had had ALS, but she became incapacitated in Feb 2010. She endured 10 long months in a hospital bed in the living room of the house at 600 Vance, gradually becoming more and more disabled until she died around 4 pm on Dec 22. The opinion is that her heart muscle just quit working. She seemed to have died peacefully with no pain. Mom is survived by her husband, Gene, of 65 years, and her 3 children: Rhonda Brockett of Lilburn, Ga; Cheryl Given of Knoxville, Tn, and Jay Gresham of Charlotte, NC; nine grandchildren: Jeff, Travis, Justin Given, Conor and Tim Brockett, Ron, Rebecca, Adam, and Amanda Gresham; and 4 great-grandchildren: Camryn, Cole, Julia, and Tyler Given. She will be greatly missed.