July 11, 1929 – Sept. 2, 2011

BATESVILLE, Ark. — Memorial services for the Rev. Limuel G. Parks Jr., 82, of Batesville, Ark., who died Friday, Sept. 2, 2011, at Little Rock Hospice Home Care in Little Rock, Ark., will be at 4 p.m. Sunday at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Batesville with the Rev. John Drymon officiating.

Burial will follow at Oaklawn Cemetery in Batesville under the direction of Roller-Crouch Funeral Home in Batesville.

Mr. Parks was born July 11, 1929, in Batesville, the son of Limuel G. Parks Sr. and Emily Ellen Handford Parks.

Mr. Parks was a graduate of Batesville High School and attended Arkansas College (now Lyon College) in Batesville before transferring to the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. There he earned a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in chemistry. After college, Mr. Parks worked in the U.S. patent office in Washington, D.C., and later with nerve gas experimentation at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. He also served in the U.S. Air Force and was stationed in Korea during the Korean War. He was promoted to the rank of Major.

After attending seminary at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn., where he earned a master of divinity degree in 1958, he was ordained a deacon in the Episcopal Church. He was ordained as priest in the Episcopal Church in 1959.

His work as an Episcopal clergyman was in the dioceses of Arkansas and Mississippi. He served Christ’s Church and Church of the Good Shepherd, Forrest City, Ark.; Grace Church, Wynne, Ark.; St. Peter’s Church, Conway, Ark.; Trinity Church, Searcy, Ark.; All Saints’ Church, Russellville, Ark.; St. Mark’s Church, Jonesboro, Ark.; Trinity Church, Natchez; Christ Church, Church Hill; and All Saints’ Church, Paragould, Ark.

Mr. Parks was also manager of Camp Mitchell, an Episcopal Church camp, while in Conway, Ark.

Mr. Parks is survived by his wife of 45 years, Laura Bailey Parks; two sons, Stanley J. Parks and wife, Christi, of Springdale, Ark., and John W. Parks and wife, Malan, of Natchez; six grandchildren, Bailey, William and Katie of Springdale, Ark., and Kyler, Emily and John Jr., of Natchez; and one brother, James R. Parks of Bateville.

Memorials may be made to Trinity Episcopal School, Natchez, Episcopal Relief and Development or to a charity of choice.

Online condolences may be sent to www.rollerfuneralhomes.com.