Parks Cruse Obituary
Gastonia, North Carolina
Parks Cruse, 79, of Gastonia, passed away November 10, 2024, at his residence. He was born October 31, 1945, in Gaston County, a son of the late Denton Wallace Cruse and Frances Rankin Moore Cruse.
Parks was a veteran of the United States Navy. He was an active member of First Assembly of God in Gastonia.
Survivors of Parks include his wife of 53 years, Jimmie Cruse; daughter, Elizabeth "Liz" Berry and husband, Jonathan; brothers, Denton Cruse and wife, Susan; and Alan Cruse; sister, Chrissy Diggs and husband, Hank; sister-in-law, Carol Stradley. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his brother, Bob Cruse.
A Celebration of Life service will be held at First Assembly of God in Gastonia, at 4:00 pm, Friday, November 15, 2024, with Reverend Dennis Boyce and Reverend Scott Lingerfelt officiating. A visitation will follow the service in the church foyer.
The family would like to express a sincere thank you to Adoration Home Health, Parks' First Assembly family, Meghan Gamble, and Angela Readling.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to First Assembly of God, 777 S. Myrtle School Rd, Gastonia, NC 28052.
Condolence messages may be sent online at mcleanfuneral.com. McLean Funeral Directors of Gastonia is serving the Cruse family.
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Charles E Zeigler, Jr
Parks Cruse was a great guy with a great, loving wife, Jimmie! I first met him in Miss Hattie Stowe's first grade class. He used to make our class laugh by whooping and cutting cartwheels all around the classroom when Miss Stowe was out of the room... until she frequently caught him. In our class picture, he is standing closely beside Miss Stowe. I never figured out whether she did that to make sure he didn't cut up or because he was her favorite... probably both. In the fifth grade our family moved next door to his family. That led to fun times together... neighborhood football games in his backyard, nearby baseball games, and playing Army or camping out overnight once in the nearby woods with the neighborhood gang. During those good times our gang got into a bit of trouble by cutting down a bunch of pine trees with our Scout's hatchets and building three "forts" on property just outside our neighborhood. One of our fathers got really ticked off after his son admitted to being the ring leader of that project, and his father had to pay the irate owner for the trees we had cut down. We also got in troube with Parks' parents when his older brother, Denny, and a few of us dug a big foxhole (about 4-5 feeit in diameter and about 2-1/2 feet deep) in Parks' side yard... but they let us keep it for a while for our Army battles. We were pals all the way through Ashley High, but unfortunately pretty much lost touch with one another after that. I remember happily seeing Parks and Jimmie years ago at one of our class reunions... lots of kids stuff memorires flodded back then. It would have been fun to see Parks and Jimme at our 60th reunion. Blessing to Jimmie and their family in this sad time for them! Charlie Zeigler
Lynn Leroy Stewart
I remember Parks or Parkie when we were much younger as DeMolays. He was always friendly and kind. I also remember th family business on Franklin Blvd.