Parke

R.E. "Roy" Parke Jr., 87, of Dover, Fla., departed this life on Thursday.

He was born Oct. 18, 1920, in Northern Ireland. His family migrated to the United States when he was 5 and settled in Butler. He attended a one-room school in Pennsylvania and then served his country in WWII as a sergeant in the 63rd Infantry Division.

Upon arriving in Hillsborough County, Fla., he began a career in farming, becoming the fifth generation of farmers in his family.

He founded Parkesdale Farms, Parkesdale Farm Market, Parkesdale Greenhouses, Parkesdale Apartments and Parkesdale Packing and Cooling. He pioneered the first successful overseas shipment by air of strawberries to Europe in 1963, and he was the first to protect strawberries with overhead irrigation.

He was active in the community. He served as a political appointment of the governor on the Coordinating Council for Vocational Education and Adult Education of Hillsborough County and on the advisory committee for State Farmers Market of Plant City, on the Hillsborough County Strawberry Commission as director and vice president, on the advisory board of the Strawberry Festival as president for two years, and as director for 40 years, on the Hillsborough County Farm Bureau as director, on the board of First Florida Bank as director, on the advisory board for the Hillsborough County Agriculture Department as the Plant City branch member, on the Greater East Hillsborough County Chamber of Commerce as director, on the Boy Scout advisory board, on the advisory board of Congressman Mike Bilirakis, as a member of the Senatorial Inner Circle, as a life member of the Republican Presidential Task Force, founder and chief of the Dover/Turkey Creek Volunteer Fire Department, past president of the Plant City High School Athletic Booster Club, and past president of the Turkey Creek High School Athletic Booster Club.

He received many awards and honors, including the Honorary Chapter Farmer Award, Outstanding Strawberry Grower Award presented by the Plant City and Turkey Creek Schools' FFA, and was the first grower to receive the Hall of Fame Award, presented by the Florida Strawberry Growers Association.

He was commissioned as a Kentucky Colonel by Gov. Wallace Wilkenson, and was also awarded Agriculturalist of the Year 1989, presented by the Chamber of Commerce, the Farm Family of the Year, presented by the Chamber of Commerce and the Strawberry Growers Association, and the Agricultural Production Award, presented by the board of the Hillsborough County Fair. The board of the Strawberry Festival named the Main Exhibition Hall the Roy and Helen Parke Hall.

He was a member of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Plant City, where he served as a deacon and Sunday school teacher. He enjoyed his family, traveling and working with young people. He proclaimed his greatest assets were "My God and my family."

He is survived by his loving wife, Helen Ann Parke; his children, Cheryl Meeks and her husband, Jim, Sandee Sytsma and her husband, Hank, Bobby Parke and his wife, Peggy, Colleen Fulton and her husband, Terry, and Gary Parke and his wife, Terri, all of Plant City; his brother, Dave Parke of Arkansas; his sisters-in-law, Eldora Nagel of Cape Coral, and Mildred McGuigen of Murrysville, Pa.

Also surviving are his grandchildren, Jim and Xiomara Meeks, Erin and David McQuaig, Calley Fulton, Kristen and Brett Hitchcock, Neal Fulton, Matt and Jennifer Parke, Amanda Parke, Devon Parke, Jordan Parke, Joshua Parke, and Robert and Terry Holloway; and eight great-grandchildren; his cousins Bill Parke of Ohio, Dorothy Janes of Plant City, and Bob Parke of Plant City; his special friend and caregiver, Rene Chavera; and many nieces, nephews and friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Robert and Mary Parke; his brother, Jack Parke; and sister-in-law Margie Parke.

<B>PARKE</B> — Friends of R.E. "Roy"Parke, who died Thursday, June 5, 2008, will be received from 3 to 7 p.m. Monday at the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, 1107 Charlie Griffin Road, Plant City, Fla. A memorial service will follow at 7 p.m. The family request guests wear red if possible.In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to the Agriculture Scholarship College Fund administered by the Florida Strawberry Festival, P.O. Drawer 1869, Plant City, FL 33564 and/or the Building Fund at the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, 1107 Charlie Griffin Road, Plant City, FL 33566.Arrangements by <B>Hopewell Funeral Home</B>, Plant City, Fla.