Susan Ann Parker

Susan Ann Parker died peacefully at her home on December 14th 2023 at the age of 80, after a brief illness. She was born in Henderson, Texas in 1943, on the 25th of January to Matthew Whitfield Parker and Evelyn Tate Parker. The family moved to Houston where Susan attended elementary school before relocating to Dallas. The summer before her junior year in high school, Susan, a fifth generation Texan, moved back to East Texas where she lived with her Aunt Marie and Uncle Rip and graduated from Carthage High School. Susan spent many afternoons at the big Victorian home in Carthage of her beloved Grandmother, Gladys Whitfield Parker. The two loved to visit about family, careers and recipes.

Susan earned a bachelor’s degree in home economics from the University of Oklahoma. Upon graduation, she moved back to Texas and went to work in the marketing department at Braniff Airlines which ignited her lifelong love of travel. When Braniff ceased operations in 1982, Susan moved to Delta where she remained until 1992. She worked for AT&T until her retirement in 2009.

She lived in the Highland Park neighborhood of Dallas in a duplex on Westway that she owned with her brother, John Parker. In April of 2004, she purchased her pride and joy: a two-bedroom cottage on Lorraine Avenue that she decorated with exquisite taste. Susan and her schnauzer Gracie adored their neighbors on Lorraine and hosted many dinners for friends and family.

For more than a decade, Susan served on the Altar Guild at the Church of Incarnation. She was a member of the Northwood Woman's Club and volunteered weekly at St. Michael’s Exchange in Highland Park Village. Susan took at least one annual trip abroad. Her last trip, a hiking tour of northern Italy taken just three months before her death, sent her scrambling up snow-capped mountains in the Dolomites. She also made regular visits to Vermont to see Jack Westman, her former boss at Delta, and his wife, Tyna. She cherished simple road trips back to East Texas to see friends and family. Susan never missed the Youngblood cemetery annual picnic in Beckville, Texas and was part of Youngblood’s beautification committee.

Susan is survived by her three siblings, John, Gary and Martha Parker, niece Emily Mulkey and by many close cousins: Barbara McCoy, Rebecca Clark, Ann McCarthy, Rebecca Lambert, Kallen McCoy, Justin Clark, John Clark, Leisa Emerson, Linda Gordan, Marilyn Freeman, Betty Dale, Cindy Flanagan, Joe Tate, Patty O’Rourke, JoAnn Kilner, Gale Bollinger, Brian Cummins, Bruce Cummins, Nancy Prideaux, Caroline Bollinger and Ryan Kelly.

Services will be held on Thursday, December 21st at 11:30am at the Church of Incarnation in Dallas. In lieu of flowers, please feel free to make a donation in her name to the Church of Incarnation or a charity of your choice.