PARKS ENDOWS SHCOLARSHIP AT SEMO

Retired state Rep. Opal Parks of Caruthersville has provided $50,000 to endow a scholarship for Pemiscot County students attending Southeast Missouri State University.

The John and Opal Parks Endowed Scholarship will be awarded to an incoming Southeast Missouri State University freshman from Pemiscot County, who is in the top 15 percent of his graduating class and has financial need. The scholarship will cover full tuition for four years at Southeast if the student maintains a 3.0 grade point average. The first award will be given in the fall of 1996.

Parks said, "I want everybody to know how much love I have for my county and my people. I've been here all my life, and everybody has been good to me. This is one way I can repay them for what they have done for me."

Parks served as a Democratic state representative of the 162nd legislative district of Missouri for six years.

In addition to her political leadership roles, Parks was an automobile dealer in Steele for 26 years and served as administrator of Pemiscot Memorial Hospital. Parks also operates an 840-acre farm in Pemiscot County.