Sue Block Parkes, age 94, of Dover, passed away Friday, February 24, 2023, at her country home in Pope County, Arkansas. She was born July 16, 1928, in Puerta Castilla, Honduras to Kennett Bolton and Wilma Hogaboom Block.

Sue was born in a small hospital on the beach in Puerta Castilla, Honuras. She was raised in Honduras, Panama, and Costa Rica where her father was a manager for the United Fruit Company. She spoke fluent Spanish.

Her fondest early memories were in the kitchen where Jamaican cooks would ask her to try the food they were preparing. She was taken from Costa Rica to Los Angeles by boat at the age of 13 to attend high school at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy in Pasadena, CA. She arrived there in August 1941, just four months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. For the next four years she was unable to visit or communicate with her family in Costa Rica, not even by mail. This had a profound effect on her life.

She received a scholarship to Ole Miss and arrived in Oxford, MS in the fall of 1947 where she pledged Tri Delta and met her future husband, Bob Parkes of Louisville, MS at a SAE swap. They were married on July 4, 1951, in Vicksburg, MS and honeymooned on Lookout Mountain, TN. Her first child was born in Memphis while her husband was in dental school there and her second child was born in Tela, Honduras while Bob was stationed in the US Air Force in Japan. Returning to the United States, she and Bob made their home in what is now the Fondren area of Jackson, MS and her third child, a daughter, was born in Jackson.

Sue was a devout Catholic and attended mass daily when she could. She had many friends who recognized her as a special person. She loved to visit with her three sisters and laugh with them into the night always speaking in Spanish. She was a fine cook, and many holidays and special times were enjoyed eating her wonderful lunches and dinners.

Her final years were spent at her country home in northern Arkansas in the peace and stillness of that countryside. She loved to watch the ducks, geese, turkey, and deer that came down to the pond from her back porch. All called her Suey.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Robert Brown Parkes.

She is survived by her three children, Roger Brown Parkes (Pam) of Jackson, MS, Robert Stephen Parkes (Lisa) of Dover, AR and Susan Parkes Lind (Chip) of Nashville, TN, seven grandchildren and thirteen great grandchildren.

A memorial mass will be 11:00 a.m., Friday, March 10, 2023, at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, in Atkins, with Father Mauricio Carrasco officiating. Burial will be in North Fork Cemetery, under the direction of Shinn Funeral Service in Russellville.

The family will receive friends from 10:30 until service time at the church.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to St. Richards Catholic Church, PO Box 16547, Jackson, MS, 39236, and The Gleaners, 237 Briarwood Dr., Jackson, MS, 39206.

Online guestbook and condolences available at www.shinnfuneral.com.