Parke Theodore Piper

Obituary:  Parke Theodore Piper (February 01, 1922 – September 29, 2022)

Memorial services for Parke Theodore Piper, 100, of Hollister, Missouri will be held Friday, October 7, 2022, at 11:00 A.M. at Branson United Methodist Church in Branson, Missouri with Pastor Eric Derks officiating.  Visitation will precede the service beginning at 10:30 A.M. at the church.

Memorial services will be held in Quincy, Illinois at Trinity United Church of Christ on Saturday, October 8, 2022, at 1:00 P.M. with Reverend Tim White officiating.  Visitation will precede the service beginning at 12:30 P.M. at the church. Burial will follow at Greenmount Cemetery in Quincy with full military honors presented by the United States Marine Corps and American Legion Post 37.  A reception will be held at 2:30 P.M. at Trinity United Church of Christ.  Arrangements are under the direction of Snapp-Bearden Funeral Home in Branson.

Parke Theodore Piper was born on February 1, 1922, in Tazewell County, Illinois.  He was the son of Guy Theodore Piper and Florence Helen (Harris) Piper.  Parke graduated from Steffenville High School in Steffenville, Missouri in 1940. 

He married Dorothea Mildred Schild on September 17, 1947, in Peoria, Illinois and they celebrated 65+ years of marriage together prior to Dorothea’s death in 2012.  They lived most of those years in Quincy, Illinois and moved to Hollister, Missouri in 2007.

Parke enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1942.  He was the youngest brother of “The Piper Brothers” who fought in some of the biggest battles in the Pacific Theater during World War II, including Pearl Harbor, The Battle of Midway, Guadalcanal and Bougainville.  Parke was also presented with a certificate in a line-crossing ceremony for crossing the Equator.  He served as a drill instructor attaining the rank of Sergeant before being honorably discharged. 

In 2010, Parke was selected for the first Ozarks Honor Flight to visit the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.  Later that year he was chosen to participate in the Patriotic Travel Education Program, facilitated by College of the Ozarks.  The program pairs students with Veterans, taking them back to the battlefields where they fought.  He participated in multiple trips, including the 70th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor.  Parke was featured on the front page of USA Today and honored by U.S. President George W. Bush in 2011 for his military service.  His memoir, “Never Forget” is scheduled to be published later this year.

Parke excelled in sports growing up and was a passionate fan throughout his life.  His favorite teams were the St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Chiefs and the Chicago Bears.  He attended multiple World Series with his wife and personally met several MLB Hall of Fame Inductees.

He loved the outdoors and spent most of his leisure time, fishing, duck hunting and boating with family and friends at his camp on the Mississippi River.  In his late 80’s and early 90’s he even went ziplining in the Ozarks and white water rafting on the Main Salmon River in Idaho (twice).  Age for him was only a number, not a state of mind.

Parke was a member of Trinity United Church of Christ for more than 75 years.  He worked as a boiler engineer for the Quincy Public School Systems – Board of Maintenance for more than 40 years.  He was an accomplished carpenter and could build anything.  He even built his own home. 

He was also a former member of the Quincy Moose Lodge.

Parke was preceded in death by his parents; his wife Dorothea; daughter Shirley Jo (Piper) Albright; brothers Guy Piper and Lynn Clapper; sister Irene (Clapper) Elder; and son-in-law Bruce Albright.

Survivors include his daughter, Barbara Sue (L. David) Aeschliman, of Hollister, Missouri; daughter-in-law, Kathy Albright of Quincy, Illinois; four grandchildren, D. Todd (Michele) Aeschliman of Hollister, Mark E. Stroud of Hollister, John Cory (Nikki) Piper-Albright and Lauren Elise (Joe) Damon of Quincy; seven great-grandchildren, Ciara Lynn (Dustin) Murtaugh of Greensboro, North Carolina, Caryn Marie (Ryan) Tate of Groesbeck, Texas, Madeleine (Tyler Caldwell) Albright, Elise Damon, Maxwell Albright, Kristin Damon and Meredith Albright all of Quincy; two great-great grandchildren, Lochlan Atlas Murtaugh of Greensboro, and Beckett Albright of Quincy, sister-in-law, Kay Schild of Quincy; and several nephews and nieces.

Memorials may be made to College of the Ozarks’ Patriotic Travel Education Program or to the organization of the donor’s choice.

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