Peggy Parks, Alumna and Longtime U of A Supporter, Passes Away

By Russell Cothren

Peggy Parks

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Peggy Sue Murphy Parks of Prairie Grove, a teacher, community leader and philanthropist, passed away July 17 at the age of 89.

She was born in Fayetteville and graduated from Fayetteville High School in 1945. She married Donald Parks in 1949 and moved to Prairie Grove, where he worked in the family business, the Prairie Grove Telephone Company. Their son, David, was born in 1954.

She discovered her love for teaching in 1957 and attended the University of Arkansas during her summer breaks to earn a Bachelor of Science in Education. She taught 4th grade for 30 years.

Her public service included work on the state Democratic Committee, the Fayetteville City Hospital board and the Washington Regional Foundation board She served on the Ozark Guidance Foundation board and on the board of the Arts Center of the Ozarks. She was also appointed to the Prairie Grove Battlefield Park Commission.

The Parks family generously supported the renovation of the former student health center into the Epley Center for Health Professions, which houses the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing and the U of A Speech and Hearing Clinic. The family also established the Parks Family Professorship in Science and Technology Education within the College of Education and Health Professions. The family has also contributed to the Faulkner Performing Arts Center, Peggy and Donald Parks Teaching Scholarship, Peggy and Donald Parks Nursing Scholarship, KUAF Building Fund, and the Reed Greenwood Student Award for Excellence.

In 2012, the second floor of the Epley Center for Health Professions was dedicated to Peggy and her mother, Emilia Murphy, RN. This building enabled the university to double the number of its graduating nurses.

Memorials may be made to Washington Regional Foundation, Ozark Guidance Foundation, or Fayetteville Public Education Foundation.

Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Friday, July 21 at the Prairie Grove Christian Church.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.