Susan Jeannette Parks

Susan Jeannette Parks, 77, of Bloomington, IN, passed away at home April 28, 2022. Susan "Jane" was preceded in death by her parents William H. and Jeannette (Kayes) Parks, and her brothers Richard W. Parks and Peter W. Parks. She is survived by her two sisters, P. Diane and Carol (David), her nephew, Alexander, and many cousins. She was born Jan 13, 1945 in Hammond, IN and went to GR Clark High School and Purdue University in Lafayette, IN. She lived in San Francisco & Bakersfield, CA and then served in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic. Afterwards she taught grade school in Gary, IN and then earned her PhD in Economics from Purdue. She taught briefly at Ball State University and Purdue and then was a professor at the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater for 25 years with a focus on statistics. During her career she enjoyed participating in an exchange program in Balarat, Australia, a special program in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and took her sabbatical at the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington, D.C. She retired from teaching in 2005 and moved to Bloomington in 2008. Susan was very opinionated but had an open mind to new and unusual ideas, was an avid political watcher, and loved to engage in debate and discussion. She had wide ranging interests and talents including strong game playing instincts and was unusually good and almost never lost Scrabble. She loved the outdoors, camping, animals and cared deeply for her pet cats. Some of her favorite things included: international cultures and foods, travel, handmade art and crafts, music, reading, surfing competitions, Bob Dylan, Australian actor Simon Baker, and Turkish actor Engin Akyurek. Susan was a kind, thoughtful and caring sister, aunt, daughter, and friend. She is greatly missed.