Posted on 11/02/2018
Robert Brown Parkes, husband, father, gentleman, bird hunter, black belt, poet, artist, orthodontist passed away on Wednesday, October 31, 2018, at his country home in Pope Co., Arkansas. He was 91. Bob was born on July 22, 1927, in Louisville, Mississippi to Roger Cecil Parkes and Mary Sue Brown Parkes. He grew up in Louisville and attended Louisville High School and played on the famous 1944, state championship Wildcat football team. He received an appointment to the Naval Academy and attended for one year before transferring to Ole Miss where he was an SAE. He met his future wife there, Sue Lyle Block and they were married in July, 1951, in Vicksburg, Mississippi and honeymooned on Lookout Mountain, Tennessee. He graduated from the University of Tennessee School of Dentistry in Memphis and received post-doctoral training in Orthodontics there.
He served three years in the United States Air Force in Nagoya, Japan and there became enamored with the Japanese people and their culture. He collected Japanese art, learned to speak Japanese and told his children Japanese fables. Returning to Mississippi, he chose Jackson to raise his family and begin his orthodontic practice. He later became a black belt in Shotokan karate and achieved the rank of 5th dan, 5th degree black belt. He was the sensei or master teacher in Mississippi for many years. He taught self-defense to the Jackson Police Department. Many people remember him as a karate man.
After he retired, Bob enjoyed playing tennis and organized a men's tennis club which gave him great joy and made many friends. He was an avid reader and wine enthusiast. Later he retired to his country home in Arkansas with the love of his life, Suey. There he enjoyed his last years watching deer, turkey, ducks and geese from the vantage of his porch above the pond. Many friends and family enjoyed holidays and special times in this beautiful place.
He is survived by his wife, Sue Block Parkes and three children, Roger Brown Parkes (Pam) of Jackson, Robert Stephen Parkes (Lisa) of Dover, Arkansas and Susan Parkes Lind (Chip) of Nashville, Tennessee; seven grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.
The graveside service will be 3:00 p.m., Friday, November 2, 2018, at the family cemetery there on the property, 2905 Granny Gap Road #1, Dover, Arkansas 72837 with Father Jack Sidler and Pastor Gary Harvey officiating and under the direction of Shinn Funeral Service of Russellville.
The family will gather for a celebration of his life at his country home after the graveside.
The family asks that in lieu of flowers donations be made to St. Richards Catholic Church, PO Box 16547, Jackson, Mississippi, 39236.
The online obituary and guestbook are available at www.shinnfuneral.com.
Published in Clarion Ledger from Nov. 2 to Nov. 3, 2018