Irene SHAY was born at the family [Michael Chauncy "Chan" and Monica Mary (O'CONNOR) SHAY] home in 1914. She attended the Maloy school through high school and then attended Ottumwa Heights College in Ottumwa for one year. Then she transferred to the University of Northern Iowa. Irene taught eighth grade at Atkinson, Illinois for three years before returning to the Maloy school where she taught fourth and fifth grades.

Jason "Arnold" PARKS, called Parks by most of his acquaintances, was born in Maryville, Kansas. He was a salesman for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Compnay. In 1937 he was sent to the southwestern Iowa territory. He lived in Creston. Parks and Irene met and were married. A daughter, Barrie Kay, was born to them in 1939 while they lived in Creston. In 1940 Monica was born. These girls went to school in Maloy through the grades and then to Mount Ayr for high school when the high school program at Maloy was closed.

In 1938 Parks' widowed sister died in Maryville, Kansas, leaving five children orphaned. Parks and Irene took Gary, age 7, to raise, first in Creston and then in Maloy.

The PARKS family had been living at the family's farm south of Maloy several years when Dennis Arnold PARKS was born in the Creston hospital in 1948. Dennis graduated from Anamosa High School after his parents moved there about 1961.

Since moving to Anamosa, Parks has retired from being a salesman. He has various hobbies he pursues but his main thing is being Santa at Christmas time. This he has done for 25 years and at one time Irene had mde him three suits so she could keep up with his schedule.

Irene taught fourth grade in the Anamosa schools until the spring of 1979 when she retired after being a teacher a total of 27 years. Irene is an avid golfer and Hawkeye fan.

Barrie PARKS graduated from the college at Maryville [Northwest Missouri State University] with a teaching degree. She now [1987] teaches at Saint Patrick's Catholic School in Anamosa. Barrie married Brady REYNOLDS of Creston in 1962. Three sons have been born to them. Kent in 1963, James "Deg" was born in 1966 and Michael REYNOLDS was born in 1968.

Sadness enveloped the family this January, 1986, when Deg was killed in a snowmobile freak accident in their houseyard.

Kent is a student at Iowa University with a biology major. Michael is a senior in Anamosa High School. Brady is foreman of Farmsted Foods (formerly Wilson Meats). Barrie likes to have coffee with friends and read. She has fond memories of living in Maloy which include the confidence 4-H gave her in large group situations, which she credits to leader Liz LYNCH.

NOTE: James Degnan "Deg" REYNOLDS was born January 30, 1966, and died January 3, 1986. He was interred at Calvary Cemetery, Creston, Iowa, sharing a gravestone with Joseph Arnold REYNOLDS, born January 30, 1966, died February 2, 1966.

Barrie's sister Monica also graduated from Maryville [Northwest Missouri State University] with a teaching degree and taught in Colorado where she met and married Tom SPINNER. They had a daughter, Terry. They moved to Minneapolis and Monica taught in the Inner City Schools, mostly blacks and Indian students. Monica taught in Fargo, North Dakota, teaching remedial reading and later became Director of Migrant Education for that state. She obtained her masters degree in special education and taught in Park Hill schools in Kansas City.

In 1960 Monnie and daughter Terry moved to Altamont, Illinois, and she began teaching at the Vandelia Correctional Center. This is an adult prison. In 1981 she was selected as Adult Educator of the Year for Illinois.

Monica's daughter Terry is 21-years-old and a senior student at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Illinois. She is majoring in special education and hopes to go into prison teaching also.

Dennis, during his high school days, starred in football. He attended college in Plattsville, Wiscosin. He also served in the Vietnam War. He is now living in Anamosa. He married Cecelia BOOS of Anamosa and they have two daughters, Jennifer, who is in the eleventh grade, and Summer, who attends Saint Patrick's School and is in the third grade.

Dennis, like his father, is a salesman, and Cecelia teaches school at Linn-Mar in Marion.

Gary PARKS lives in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. His three children are Donald, Karen and Mary. Gary operates a number of Standard Oil Service Stations.

NOTE: Gary served during World War II in the U.S. Navy.

SOURCE: Maloy, Iowa Centennial History: 1887 - 1987 Pp. 182-83.

Courtesy of Mount Ayr Public Library

Transcription and Notes by Sharon R. Becker, August of 2011