Everett Austin Parke – Commander, United States Navy

Everett Austin Parke, 81, a retired Navy Commander who worked for the CIA and was a clarinetist in musical groups, died February 25, 2003, at Georgetown University Hospital. He had endocarditis, an infection of the heart valve.

Commander Parke, a Washington resident, retired from the Navy in 1966. He spent the next six years as a CIA anti-submarine warfare analyst.

From 1972 to 1986, he worked for several contractors, editing manuals and publications about naval weaponry.

He was a native of Grand Junction, Colorado, and was in the U.S. Naval Academy Class of 1945, which graduated a year early because of World War II. He was class president and directed the academy’s symphony orchestra.

He served in the Pacific during World War II and in Korea during the war there. He later commanded the destroyer escort Sellstrom and the destroyer Robert A. Owens.

He worked in naval intelligence and was naval attache at the U.S. Embassy in South Vietnam in the early 1960s. His final active-duty assignment was intelligence work at the Pentagon.

From 1975 to 1995, he was a member of the National Concert Band of America, an organization largely composed of former military service musicians.

His other memberships included St. John’s Episcopal Church in Lafayette Square, the Army-Navy Club and the Parke Society, a genealogy group.

He was a former president of the Circumnavigators Club chapter in Washington.

He was a wine aficionado, and his avocations included composing limericks.

Survivors include his wife of 58 years, Margaret Rebok Parke of Washington; two daughters, Cynthia Parke Beukema of Minneapolis and Margaret Ellen Parke of Fairfax; and two grandsons.

PARKE, EVERETT AUSTIN, CDR., USN (Ret.)

On Tuesday, February 25, 2003 at Georgetown Hospital. Survived by his wife, Margaret Rebok Parke of Washington, D.C.; daughters, Cynthia Parke Beukema of Minneapolis, Minnesota and Margaret Ellen Parke of Fairfax, Vriginia; grandsons, Frederick Parke Beukema and David Christian Beukema, both of Minneapolis.

Memorial service at 10:30 a.m., Monday, March 3 at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 16th & H Sts., N.W., Washington, DC. Burial at 11 a.m. on Thursday, March 13 at Arlington National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to St. John’s Church, 1525 H St., N.W., Washington, DC 20005.

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard