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James "Jim" Alden Parks was born May 25, 1926 on a farm near Eldorado, Jackson County, Oklahoma.
He was the 8th child of eleven children born to Philip Henry and Pearle Lee Crabtree Parks.
He died March 31, 2004 at the age of 77 years, 10 months and 6 days in Covenant Hospital, Lubbock, Texas after a lengthy illness complicated by emphysema.
In 1929, at the age of 3, he moved with his family to a farm three miles north and one and a half miles west of Reydon, Oklahoma, as the town was being built. He grew up there on the farm.
Jim started school in 1932 at Midway, Oklahoma, and went through the 8th grade there. Midway lost their high school and he attended high school in Reydon, Oklahoma.
In October 1943 during his senior year, he left school for employment with the Santa Fe Railway. His first operator's job was night duty in Glazier, Texas, a primitive station with no electricity. Kerosene lamps provided the light for his desk and the loading docks. Jim operated the station in Reydon, Oklahoma during the regular operator's leave of absence. He then transferred to Woodward, Oklahoma where he celebrated his 18th birthday.
He received his draft notice and was inducted into the U.S. Army on October 24, 1933 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He received advanced radio schooling at Fort Benning, Georgia. Jim was shipped to Manila, Philippine Islands July 7, 1945. He went to Mindanao, Phillippines and served with the 41st Signal Company that furnished communiciation for the 41st Infantry Division.
At the end of the war in 1945, Jim and his company was transferred as occupational forces in Japan. They established a radio station in Kure, Japan. He was transferred to the Island of Kyushu, Japan to a communiciation company.
Before leaving Japan, Jim made a trip to Hiroshima where the atomic bomb was dropped. He said it was a terrible sight of destruction.
Technician 4th Grade, James Alden Parks returned to the United States in 1946 in September. He received the Asiatic-Pacific Ribbon, Campaign Ribbon Philippine Liberation Ribbon, Good Conduct Medal, Army Occupation Ribbon, Victory Ribbon, two Overseas Bars, and Rifle Sharp Shooters Medal.
Jim returned to Reydon, Oklahoma where he was issued a high school diploma. He again went to work for the Santa Fe Railroad in Pampa, Texas.
There he met Ollie Thelma Romines Black who had a small daughter, Retha. They married June 27, 1948 in the Central Baptist Church, Pampa, Texas.
In 1951, Jim went to work in the oil field for Stanolind, later known as Amoco. They transferred to Levellan, Texas in April 1957 where they continue to live and Jim retired from Amoco.
Jim and Thelma attended the First Assembly of God church in Levelland.
He was a member of the AA Organization and had many friends in it.
He liked to play golf.
Jim loved his family very much.
He is survived by his wife of the home; two sons and their wives, James Keith and Kathy Parks, Odessa, Texas; Rickey Alden and Stacie Parks, Whitharral, Texas; one sister and husband, Nadia and Gerald Martin, Reydon, Oklahoma; four brothers and their wives, William T. Parks, Elk City, Oklahoma; Henry Lee and Mary Ann Parks, Canadian, Texas; E. Byron Parks, Montrose, Colorado; Ethyn D. Parks and Clara Parks, Reydon, Oklahoma; three grandsons; two sisters-in-law and husbands, James and Vivian Romines, Pampa, Texas; and many nieces, nephews and friends.
He was preceded in death by his father and mother; daughter, Retha; two sisters, Velva Pastlewait and Johnnie Belle Carpenter Martin; and two brothers, Dillion L. Parks and Elzy G. Parks.
Graveside services were in the Levelland Municipal Cemetery at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, April 3, 2004.
Memorial services to celebrate Jim's life were in the George Price Funeral Home Chapel, Levelland, Texas at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, April 3, 2004.
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