Lora Mae Parker

LORA PARKER MUSCATINE, Iowa - Lora Mae Parker, 87, of Muscatine, passed away on Sunday, January 28, 2018, at Trinity, Rock Island. Funeral Service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, February 3, 2018, at Wesley United Methodist Church. Reverend Bruce Ursin will officiate. Visitation will precede at the church from 9:30 until 11a.m. A lunch will follow. Burial will take place this summer at the Parker Family plot in rural Mills County, outside of Henderson, Iowa. Memorials may be made to Wesley United Methodist Church for Music and Youth Programs. Lora was born on September 17, 1930, at Keota, Iowa, the daughter of Doyle and Jean Lyle Palmer. She grew up on a farm in rural Keokuk County, attending grade school in a one room, country school house, her mode of transport was either by horseback or on foot. After graduation from Keota High School, Lora attended Iowa State University, where she not only received her degree in Home Economics, but also met a young man that would become her husband, and lifelong partner. On June 16, 1951 she married Donald Parker. Ceremonies were held in Keota, followed by a Lake of the Ozarks honeymoon. After their graduation fr...[more]

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ISU, they began farming the Parker family farm in SW Iowa, where they farmed for ten years, before relocating to Cedar County in Eastern Iowa. After 15 years of farming there, they moved to Muscatine, IA where she became a realtor/broker running Parker Realty for over 30 years. She also spent time in the early years of marriage, as a teacher, before becoming a homemaker. Lora enjoyed judging various Home Ec. related contests at county & state fairs throughout the years. Lora was an active member of the Wesley United Methodist Church of Muscatine, where she put her real estate acumen to use and took great satisfaction in coordinating various real estate transactions to facilitate various expansions of the Church's parking and its youth center. She was also an engaged member, of P.E.O, Eastern Star, American Association of University Women, serving in both local and national leadership roles. Lora truly enjoyed music, singing, gardening, sewing, birdwatching, bridge club, and most of all, her role as a stay at home mom/homemaker in raising her three children. Those left to honor her memory include her husband, Donald, of Muscatine; her children, Doug Parker, of Muscatine, J.D. Parker and wife, Karen, of Greenville, Texas, and Kate Hungerford and husband, Dave, of Buda, Texas; Three grandchildren, Callie Hungerford of Austin, TX, Rachel Cassady and husband, John, and their children, Savannah, Abby, and Jacob, Thad Parker and wife, Katy, and their children, Addyson, Austin, and Walker, all of the Rockwall, TX area; One brother, Lyle Palmer and wife, Margaret, of Phoenix, Arizona; One sister, Twila Shankland and husband, Bob, of Denver, Colorado; She was also blessed with countless cousins (many of whom were in actuality more aptly sisters) as well as numerous nieces, and nephews too. She was preceded in death by her parents.