Lois Olive Richardson Parker Lois Olive Richardson Parker, 95, was born March 29, 1923, and passed away January 17, 2019, in Port Arthur, Texas. Funeral services will be held on January 21, at 2:00 pm at Claybar Funeral Home in Bridge City with the Rev. Doug Shows and Deacon Darrell Segura officiating.
Visitation will begin at 1 pm prior to the service. Lois was born in the Cherokee Community of Tyler County, Texas, to Henry Oliver and Olive Dell Smith Richardson (Oliver & Ollie), the youngest of six children. Lois and her only brother W. A., were orphaned when she was eight years old, and were reared by their sisters, primarily Lucille Richardson and her husband Bryan Martin of Woodville.
She was a 1940 graduate of Kirby High School in Woodville, and was a Princess in the first Dogwood Festival in Woodville that year. After graduation Lois married Wayne G. Parker, also a Kirby High School graduate, and they began married life in Beaumont. Their first child, Robert Wayne, was born in 1943, and daughter Linda followed six years later.
Lois was a direct descendant of William Smith, who was both a naval lieutenant and a member of the Massachusetts Militia during the Revolutionary War. In the mid-1950s Wayne began a career at DuPont Sabine River Works in Orange, and The Parkers moved to Bridge City in 1957. Lois has resided there ever since.
They were members of First Baptist Church of Bridge City, and also of various community support organizations when their children and grandchildren were in schools there. Lois was preceded in death by her husband of 71 years, Wayne Gregory Parker, her grandson Robert David (Davy) Dearing, her parents, her son-in-law Curtis Koonce, her sisters Lorena Richardson Johnson, Mattie Leigh Richardson Best, Lucille Richardson Martin, and Billie Pauline Richardson Hill, and her brother William Absolom Richardson, who perished in World War II. She is also predeceased by her nephews Dan L. Johnson, Jr., Jimmy K. Best, and James Paul Hill; her niece Glenda Sue Parker Brack and her sisters-in-law Juanita Parker Marshall and Mildred Parker; and brothers-in-law John Kermit Parker, Wallace Parker, Dan L. Johnson, Sr, Jim Best, John Hill, and Bryan Martin.
She is survived by her son and his wife, Robert and Peggy Lehman Parker of Bridge City, Daughter, Linda Parker Koonce of Frisco, Texas, grandchildren Rodney W. Parker and Robyn Parker Kordish and her husband Joe, of Bridge City, and Amanda Dearing Farrar and her husband Christopher, of Frisco. She is also survived by her great-grandchildren Phineas and Brock Dearing and their mother Shannon Dearing, of Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania; Kyler Kordish and Karissa Kordish Schamber and her husband Jordan Schamber, and Trenten Parker, of Bridge City; and Hannah, Abigail and William Robert Farrar of Frisco. Lois is also survived by her nieces Johnnie Kay Parker Andrus, Virginia Marshall Arnaud, and Gwen Martin Gibbs; and by her nephews Perry Best and Max Hill, all of whom she loved very much, and a large extended family.
Lois was a woman of great humor, wit and intelligence. She was an outstanding historian of family, political and social knowledge. Her family relied on her frequently for this information and she was always at the ready with answers, questions and smiles.
She will be missed by those who knew and loved her, especially Robert and Linda. To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of Lois Olive Richardson Parker please visit our Sympathy Store.
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