Lance Parks

Memorial

Mementos

You can shed tears that he is gone, or you can smile because he has lived. You can close your eyes and pray that he'll come back, or you can open your eyes and see all he's left. Your heart can be empty because you can't see him, or you can be full of the love you shared. You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday, or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday. You can remember him only that he is gone, or you can cherish his memory and let it live on. You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back. Or you can do what he'd want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on. (David Harkins) Lance Parks was born to Everett and Iva Mae Parks on April 25, 1954 at Saint Luke's hospital in Spokane, Washington. He passed away March 8, 2020 in Reno, Nevada after a 7-year battle with cancer. Lance grew up in the Garden Springs area with his older sister Krisann Parks, older brother Craig Parks and younger sister Martha Parks. Lance was a very likable person, and had a persistence and determination which, for the most part, guided him to the achievements that he attained. An example of his tenacity and determination was evident as early as the fourth grade. Lance had an affection for 7-11 Slurpees. So, he would ride his old broken down bicycle all the way from Garden Springs and up Hatch Road --without stopping-- to get a Slurpee at the nearest 7-11 located on the South Hill. This was a round trip of 20 miles with a 2 mile 520-foot climb. You could also say there began his love of cycling. Lance graduated with honors from Cheney High School class of '72, and was very active in sports throughout junior and senior high school, lettering three years in both baseball and wrestling. After graduation, Lance was employed by Kimmel Athletic Supply and was on the Mount Spokane Ski Patrol. Around 1981, Lance decided he wanted to do something different. He wanted to become a chemical engineer. Not having taken a math course since high school, and with that persistence and determination, he loaded up an old beat-up Datsun pickup with everything he owned, plus a case of oil, and took off for Texas Tech University. That same determination allowed him to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering in 1985. Shortly thereafter he found employment with British Oxygen Company and then with Airco Industrial Gases where he traveled all over the world managing the installation of gas products in manufacturing plants. His passport had 50 pages full of stamps where he had traveled during his employment. As the company grew, so did Lance's stake in the company, and by his mid-40s he sold his interest in the company and never worked as an engineer another day in his life. It was also at this time that he met Ana de Bettencourt-Dias and they were together for 21 years. Once Lance retired he didn't just sit around. He took up cycling again, but with much better bikes than the one used on his Slurpee runs. He rode anywhere from 30 to 50 and even 100 miles just about every day, either alone or with a group of cyclists, many much younger than him, but rode with the same intensity as his younger counterparts. When he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2013, he was told that he had a life expectancy of 5 more years, and if he started a regiment of treatments, he could slow the progress down. However, the side effects would have kept him from living the active life that he wanted, particularly cycling. He chose to ride. He had 5-plus good years, but during this last year the cancer caught up with him with a vengeance. When Lance passed, Ana was by his side as well as his brother and sister. He was preceded in death by his sister Martha and his parents. He leaves behind Ana, sister Krisann, brother Craig, sister-in-law Kathy, many nieces and nephews and a great group of riders and friends. Also, his family would like to thank the great care he received from Nathan, his hospice caregiver, all the staff at Circle of Life Hospice and the physicians who treated him.

Tributes

Share a favorite memory, send condolences, and honor Lance’s life with a heartfelt message.

Ana de Bettencourt-Dias

Riding the new I-80 stretch in Carson City

Published May 18th, 2021

Christina Hixson

I never met Lance in person. We played over 250 Words with Friends games over the years and became good friends having long conversations about our lives. My favorite picture he shared with me is this tree. We called it the "thinking tree" because it was the perfect place to sit and think. We hoped one day we'd be able to sit by that tree together.

Published May 24th, 2020

Ana de Bettencourt-Dias

After completing his treatment in Houston

Cycling the new Reno-Carson City highway

Published May 13th, 2020

Steve DeViney

I have two particular memories to share. I first met Lance in September 1967 at the start of our 8th grade school year at Fisher Junior High in Cheney, WA. We were both 13 and just learning about our new world beyond grade school. We were in the same Physical Education class with Mr. Huffman, a rather gruff, old-school PE teacher. Early in the month we were required to attend a one-class education on "Health." What it consisted of was Mr. Huffman explaining the "birds and the bees" of boys and girls anatomy using a black and white overhead projector, and how sex could result in pregnancy. Lance and I had providentially elected to sit in the back of the class since this subject was anticipated to be rather bewildering for a 13 year old. Mr. Huffman's concluding sentence at the end of the class was a memorable classic. "Boys, just keep your Peter in your pants!" I turned to Lance and whispered, "what is a Peter?" He shrugged his shoulders and whispered back, "I don't know." We had to embarrassingly ask another classmate. Odd how, now 53 years later I remembered the first life lesson I learned with Lance. Four years later, a separate memory. During Christmas break in the winter of ‘71/‘72 I had an opportunity to attend a winter camp at Riverview Bible Camp at Cusick in NE Washington State sponsored by 4th Memorial Church. I thought to invite Lance, as well as two of our good friends: Max Kirk, and Jim Hatch, not knowing whether they would be interested. It turned out all of them went with me. We shared a cabin with a small metal stove, plus multiple bunk beds. The camp itself had, amongst it's many amenities, a long, downhill tubing run along what was normally a summer hiking trail up through the forest. In the winter, this trail was lighted and hay bales were placed on sharp turns to ensure tubers didn't hurtled off into the woods. In the evening, a handful of tubing "trains" would be assembled to make the first 2 or 3 runs down the tubing trail to disperse the accumulated snow that had fallen overnight. We assembled perhaps 5 or 6 inner tubes, held onto the legs of the person behind us, and then launched off down the trail, leaning into each turn to do our best to avoid launching off into the woods. The power snow would blow up in a rooster tail over our heads making it impossible to breathe in some sections. We made it to the bottom safely. It was great fun. Back in our cabin, we loaded up the small metal stove with Presto logs in an attempt to regain some warmth. Without much forethough, we left the damper full open. Before long, the stove was red hot, the fire was blazing, and the stove was shaking madly as it sucked in air as it burned even hotter. We were sweating bullets as the cabin rapidly heated up beyond what we could bear. Opening the door seemed a good idea to let in cold air. This simply made the fire burn even hotter. Finding ourselves standing outside in the snow in our skivvies was unplanned. We managed to avoid burning the cabin to the ground, but it took an hour or more before the stove slowly cooled to the point where we could approach it and turn the damper down. Lance was a great friend and classmate. I never saw or spoke to him after we graduated in May 1972 and just occasionally got an update thru Max Kirk of what Lance was up to. I wish somehow that I could have also had an occasional visit with him during his adult life. Sad to see him struck down by the ravages of prostate cancer. Blessed to have good memories of him, including this long weekend adventure at a winter camp. He was a wonderful friend and important part of my life in that awkward age from 13-18. Bless the memory of my brother Lance Parks. - Steve DeViney, Arvada, CO and Cheney High School class of 1972.

Published May 26th, 2020