Shipmates:

Hope this finds everyone in good health and doing well.

Our San Diego Mini Reunion was another good one, we only had 37 people attend this year. We scheduled it on Easter Weekend and didn't realize it until after all arrangements were made.Harold Golden came from Atlanta, GA and Mel and Fran Wright came from South Carolina.

Early indications are that we're going to have a big turnout for San Diego in September. We blocked 75 rooms and the hotel called last on 7 May to inform us that 80 rooms have already been reserved.

We are requesting that everyone make their hotel reservations ASAP so we can increase our room block as necessary. If we wait until August we probably won't be able to get additional rooms and would have to get another hotel for the overflow, this would be inconvenient and more expensive. We also need to know early, so we can make any other adjustments that may be necessary. We have a 24 hour cancellation policy so there shouldn't be any problem if you have a last minute change of plans.

The hotel is Holiday Inn on Hotel Circle. Number for reservations is 619-718-7983. Hours are 0830-1700 Tuesday through Saturday. Ask for Jill and tell them you are with the USS FB Parks reunion.

Paule and Mary Papez wanted us to say thanks to all shipmates, who sent cards to Mary, they are very grateful to everyone in their "extended family".

Mary went into the hospital with cancer of the tongue and throat on January 3, 2007 and was in the hospital until 6 April. She is now in a rehab center for an unknown amount of time, she is improving and hopefully will be going home soon.

Paule said the numerous cards they received really made a difference and makes them both proud to be a member of the Parks Family.

Jim Lape has been dealing with open heart surgery and diabetes. Linda Kotulski is dealing with cancer and undergoing chemo and radiation - keep her and Tom in your thoughts and prayers.

Lets all send good wishes to them. Addresses are:

Jim Lape
8447 Jim McNeil Loop Rd. W
Grand Bay, AL 36541

Linda Kotulski
2807 Twin Falls Dr.
Plainfield, IL 60586

Mary Papez
9064 W. Farm Rd. 4
Walnut Grove, M0 65770

EMAIL ADDRESSES:

Sue Birdsong is having a difficult time with the email list. She tries to keep it current but many people have changed their email address and did not notify Sue. If your address has changed or if she doesn't have your address please contact her at sbirdsong@roadrunner.com or call her at 951-789-5309.

We will mail you a current email list upon request.  We have some new items in our ships store.

a. Mouse pads with a picture of the Parks on it.
b. License plate frames that are metal, colored red, white & blue
c. An assortment of pocket knives which have Floyd B. Parks DD884 on the blade.
d. We also have caps, t-shirts, golf shirts, patches and the large tapestry.
(All items can be seen on our website)

I also have some extra reunion memory books from Orlando, FL 2000, Baton Rouge, LA 2002, Portland, OR 2004 and Springfield, MO, 2005, they are $25 each, first come first served.

Tom Wyatt is going to Portland, ME and Grand Island, NY in July. On site inspections for our 2008 reunion. We received a proposal from a hotel in each city that sounds promising. Hopefully we will have more info in our August 2007 newsletter, for our San Diego reunion.

We have a trolley car tour of San Diego, and Coronado set up for Friday 21 Sept. It has a 3-hour stop in "Old Town" for sightseeing, shopping and lunch.

We don't have anything scheduled for Saturday or Sunday daytime. The trolley tour gives you an overview of many places to see and since there are so many things to see and do in San Diego we left Saturday and Sunday open so people can choose what they want to see and do.

We have a luau dinner with entertainment scheduled at the hotel on Saturday evening. We are working on some entertainment for our hospitality suite on Friday. We're still negotiating this but it looks promising, bring a Hawaiian shirt for our Luau on Saturday night.

The association is paying the tab for the entertainment on Friday and Saturday plus a gift for the ladies and many extras. The cost to members for this reunion is very reasonable, so please support your Parks Association by attending the reunion and buying lots of raffle tickets.

For the golfers there will be a golf game on Thursday 20 September.

Soloman Honeycutt is making the arrangements. Please call him at Home: 619-239-5868; Cell: 619-665-1987 or email: owls2co@aol.com

I just received another story from a man's magazine (name of magazine and date unknown) about the Collision with the Columbus. It was written by Chief Hospital Corpsman J.V. Mahurin who went into the sea with the bow of the parks, and was saved by S/N Lee Boulet.

A very interesting story. I am having copies made and will send to you upon request. Articles were sent to me by Benny England and Lee Boulet.

Take care, stay healthy and keep in touch.
We look forward to seeing you in September.

Tom, Bill & Robby

From The Chaplain's Corner
.................
Where Were YOU When The World Stopped Turning? Alan Jackson, the humble country boy
from Georgia, wrote this song after 911. In it he sings of love.

Galatians 5:23 defines the fruit of the Spirit as: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

How is your fruit crop these days? How do you respond when put to the test? There is illness
and handicap among us as we continue to age. But it is nice to have something to hang on to,
something to believe in? "If I have faith but have not love, I gain nothing! Love is: patient and
kind; it does not envy or boast; it is not proud. Love never fails:"

2 Corinthians 12:13 says, "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of
these is love:" Let us continue to love as we firm our plans for PARKS reunion in San Diego.

For God and Country!