Barbara A. Parks

Barbara Ann Parks, age 79 years of Niles, Michigan; mother, grandmother, aunt, bingo fan, vocalist, and volunteer to veterans died peacefully Friday morning, January 2, 2026 at Tanglewood Trace in Mishawaka, Indiana following an extended illness.

She was born on June 8, 1946 in Niles to Robert L. and Helen A. (Collins) Stephens, and was graduated from Niles High School with the class of 1964. She was employed at the former Niles plant of Simplicity Pattern Company for thirty-two years prior to retirement. She has lived in Niles all of her life.

Barb was a member and Past President of the American Legion Post 26 Auxiliary in Niles for over fifty years, where she also served as secretary and longtime treasurer. She was proud to be appointed as State Representative to the Battle Creek Veterans Administration Hospital, where she and her husband, Charlie volunteered, chairing many events including monthly parties. For ten years, they provided a Christmas Gift Shop to provide every patient at the VA hospital with a Christmas gift. She was also a member by invitation of the Honor Society of Forty & Eight for leaders of the American Legion.

When away from the VA hospital and Legion activities, Barb was a member of the Garden City Chorus, singing for many years at meetings of Niles area organizations and at nursing homes. She and Charlie enjoyed playing bingo and visiting area casinos. She was a Unit Bingo Chairman at the VA Hospital.

On retirement from Simplicity, Barb and Charlie took a five-week trip through the southern and western Unites States, trying-out new casinos along the way, stopping at Mount Rushmore – which was a great highlight, and even greater, visiting their new-born nephew, Jake DeLay.

On July 10, 1983 in Las Vegas, Nevada she married Charles Parks with whom she celebrated the thirty-sixth anniversary of their wedding, just two days prior to his death on July 12, 2019. She was also preceded in death by her parents, by a step-daughter, Tracey Lynn Krassow on May 14, 2024, and by Barb’s brothers, Richard L. Shinholt in 2009, and Gary E. “Gary Edwards” Shinholt in 2011.

Surviving family includes her children, Kenneth Charles Truesdell, Jr., and Shellie (& Bobby) DeForest of Niles; step-children, Charles Thomas Parks of North Carolina, and the twins Mary Ann (& Dennis) Crouch of Niles, and Tammy Focht of Edwardsburg, Michigan; nine grandchildren and many great-grandchildren including Mason Calvin, and Penelope; and several nieces and nephews including a special niece, Toni (& Scott) Stansill of Graham, Texas.

Committal Services for Barbara Parks will be private, at a later date, at Fort Custer National Cemetery near Augusta, Michigan with Pastor Rae Williams of Niles officiating. Burial will be in the companion grave to her late husband, U.S. Navy Veteran Machinist Mate Charles Parks. These arrangements are being completed at the Halbritter-Wickens Funeral Home, 615 East Main Street in Niles. Memories and condolences may be shared online at:

www.halbritterwickens.com.

Contributions in memory of Barb may be made to the Battle Creek VA fund, care of the American Legion Auxiliary, Department of Michigan, 212 North Verlinden Avenue, Lansing, Michigan 48915; https://member.legion-aux.org/Home.

Barb loved people, and spent her life with others at places such as Simplicity Pattern where many women of Niles’ northeast neighborhoods spent days folding and picking patterns; and at the VA hospital making hospital stays more pleasant, and leading the Auxiliary. Even playing bingo and going to the casino was more about the fellowship than the game, so much so that she continued to go after Charlie died, just to spend time with friends.