Ray Parker Reports Laurie's Death

I am sad beyond belief to have to report that Ray Parker e-mailed me today to say that his wife and our classmate Laurie Lochridge died Sept. 16 with a brain tumor. She had been diagnosed only in late June. The obituary, which appears at edwardsmemorial.com, says in part:

Laurie Jean Lochridge Parker, born September 1951, and married to Ray in 1969. "Two sons, Paul and Robert Eric (Bobby), her pride and joy. Paul married LeeAnn and gave her three grandchildren Leland, Hailey and Ethan. ...She attended Bates Vo-Tech and had a very successful upholstery business at Summit View for 10 years. After the boys grew up Ray and Laurie moved to Amory MS for Ray’s job. After three years they moved to Ozark AR where she worked 13 years for a Cracker Barrel restaurant until retiring in 2011. She and Ray also started a cattle ranch that they sold last November so they could return to the Tacoma area to assist her mother and father-in-law and enjoy the company of her family."

Survivors besides Ray and son Paul and his family include Laurie's mother, now in her 90s, and three sisters: Susan Dooling, Dillon MT,  Marcia (Carter) Barnes, and Jean Lochridge, both of Puyallup. She is also survived by Ray's father, Albert (Jack) Parker, four brothers-in-law, Tom (Judy), Terry (Becky), Roger, and Jeff (Kathy).

Ray also wrote in the obituary, "Laurie will be remembered for her loving, gentle spirit, kind nature and grace she showed her whole life. She loved to travel, entertain, garden and was known for her great cooking. We will miss her laugh and sense of humor and will never forget the amazing person she was. It is rare to meet someone as genuine and good as Laurie was and it was a true honor and privilege to be her husband."