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Claralynn Tripp Parks, 84

Claralynn Tripp Parks, 84, of Tulsa, Okla., died on January 29, 2013, in Tulsa.

Private interment was Feb. 2 at Memorial Park Cemetery in Tulsa. A memorial service will be Saturday, Feb. 23, at 11 a.m. at Freeman Harris Funeral Home in Tulsa.

Claralynn Tripp was born July 4, 1928, in Hebron to Dr. Earle Samuel and Martha Kirby Tripp.

During her early childhood, the family moved to Lincoln, and then in 1937, to Blair. She graduated from Blair High School in 1945.

She attended the University of Nebraska and was a member of Chi Omega Sorority.

After college, she worked for Continental Oil Company in Ponca City, Okla., and in Houston, Texas.

She met Robert "Bob" H. Parks in Houston and they were married on Oct. 17, 1953.

The couple made their home in Houston until 1959 when they moved to his hometown of Tulsa. They lived the remainder of their married life in Tulsa. Mr. Parks died in 2009.

While her children were young, Mrs. Parks focused her time and attention on raising her children and volunteering for the many school and extracurricular activities.

She was also active in the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers Wives' Club, serving as president.

When her children were in high school, Mrs. Parks went back to work as a legal secretary for Tucker, Boyd and Parks Law Firm, and later worked for attorney Gordon B. Cecil.

After retirement, the couple traveled throughout the United States, attending Elderhostel programs during many of their trips, and they traveled throughout Europe.

She also volunteered in Tulsa in the Salvation Army Auxiliary, the Retired Senior Volunteer Program and as a docent at Tulsa International Airport.

The couple were longtime members of Boston Avenue United Methodist Church in Tulsa.

Mrs. Parks will be remembered as a kind, lovely, intelligent woman.

She is survived by children and their spouses, Robert H. Parks Jr. and Patricia Parks of Tulsa and Melanie K. Parks Alberts and Dale Alberts of Milwaukee, Wis.; her grandchildren, Robert H. Parks III, Rebecca K. Parks, Lindsay E. Kierig Goodson and husband, Joshua Goodson, and Kimber A. Kierig; great-grandchildren, Piper R. Goodson, Augustus G. Goodson and Channing G. Goodson; brother and sister-in-law, William K. and Jeanne Tripp of Blair; niece, Peggy L. Leehy and husband, Donald Leehy; and nephews and their spouses, Timothy E. Tripp, Patrick L. and Kathy Tripp, and Leslie W. and Marilyn Tripp.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Bob; brother-in-law, Edgar H. Parks; and sister-in-law, Mary Lou Parks.