Additional Reading
Billy and Charlotte (Lukefahr) Parks
The camping led to fishing and using Lake Somerville state park as their motel home for the Aggie football games. They became season ticket holders in the late 1980’s thru numerous enlargements of Kyle Field. Also, the late 1980’s deer hunting in West Texas presented the opportunity of additional friendships that remain today.
The 1990’s saw big changes. Billy was promoted to the position as District Engineer in Amarillo. This meant uprooting a normal lifestyle with longtime friends, and Charlotte having to resign from her teaching position. However, they acquired new friends and enjoyed the drier climate. After three years there, there was the move to Corpus Christi. Again changes but a lot for the better. This move brought both back home. There was the renewed relation with Maurice which was a blessing. The Maurice led trips into Mexico were definitely experiences. Also, it brought back a closer relation with Harold and Polly and Billy’s parents.
Finally the 2000’s saw retirements and the final move to Victoria. This permitted them to become a center for the Lukefahr elders to meet. There have been the summer reunions and the Christmas parties that would not have been feasible in other locations. Now Billy’s parents are gone and Teresa and Charlotte are the last of the Great Eight.
Truly GOD had a Plan for these two.
- written by Billy Parks, 2018
Footnotes:
1. One of Charlotte and Billy's many nieces, Lisa, followed Billy into the Highway Department (now the Texas Department of Transportation). She's fairly sure that her uncle put in a good word for her and that this was instrumental in getting her first job at the organization. Billy would routinely ask others at TxDOT what they thought of that young engineer, Lisa - of course, not telling them he was her uncle! Lisa came to do the same to the many people Billy led during his years as District Engineer (D.E.) of both the Amarillo District and the Corpus Christi District. The consensus was always that Billy Parks was a tough, but fair, and honest D.E. who led with conviction. Note: Lisa assumes her reviews were not nearly as glowing, although she hopes they were not terrible!
2. Another niece, Ellen, tells of this visit: "I was too little to remember when they came to visit in Midland, but the story is hilarious. Apparently we wanted "Ice c’s. ” Imagine all 5 of us kids screaming that as we were pilled in a station wagon, and dad would not pull over. Apparently Uncle Billy, finally just said, “Damn it, Bill, pull over. I will buy them Ice C’s." And God bless him, he still married into the family. 😊
GOD HAD A PLAN
You have heard that God has a plan for all of us. Certainly during the school shootings we have a difficult time trying to figure out God’s Plan.
But, let us focus on Charlotte & Billy for a moment
I want to take you back to the depression days, particular in central Nebraska in 1939. The last sibling of Edgar and Elsie Lukefahr was born. Later that year, the family moved south to Bay City, Texas. Another event occurred in November of that year, the marriage of Bill Parks and Iva Brown. History has it that Bill swam his horse across the Navidad River the prior Christmas to give Iva a box of chocolate candy.
Time marched on without any connection relating to these events.
Charlotte progressed thru school, being a very good and proper student, especially when the nuns were around. She later was an outstanding guard on the Black Cat basketball team. She Attended WCJC and then Sam Houston State, graduating in 1961 with a major in History. She taught one year in Columbus, then moved to Yoakum in 1962. She started teaching and shortly after was asked to coach girls’ athletics.
Meanwhile, Billy had started the first grade in a one room school in Sublime. It was closed after one year, possibly because the teacher could not find anymore yaupon bushes for switches to straighten out some of the students. He spent the next 11 years of his education in the Sheridan Bronco School. He enjoyed sports but was not an athlete. He spent two years at WCJC and then obtained his Engineering degree at Texas A&M. He joined the Texas Highway Dept. in Columbus in October, 1965. He joined the Texas Army National Guard later and spent 6 months of 1966 on active duty. During that time he spent time thinking about his future professional life. He decided he liked the opportunity to plan and design highways and bridges. So, late 1966 he applied for a job in Yoakum.
This is the headquarters, housing the department heads, for the 11 county district. This offered additional exposure, improving opportunities for advancement. Even though he did not have a Civil Engineering degree, his management abilities were recognized leading to numerous advancements. This was based on recognizing his position and supporting his supervisors in a manner that provided full support of the section. [1]
Yoakum is the place where things began to come together. Charlotte had been living in a boarding house with several other teachers. However, as time moves on, they moved away due to marriage or personal opportunities. She found a vacant apartment in a complex located behind the funeral home. She moved into one of the apartments.
Later, Billy came to Yoakum and moved into one of those apartments. As time progressed, Billy was accepted into the teachers group. Except when Charlotte’s school teams were playing games, there were intense discussions and card games. Charlotte was extremely intense in the card games, her partner was under pressure to be sure to play correctly.
As time progressed, Charlotte and Billy started dating. Perhaps his greatest snafu was only buying Charlotte a hamburger when taking her to an Oilers football game in Houston. Billy’s test of fire was going to Midland with Charlotte to meet Dorothy and her family. Being an only child, this proved to be some experience. [2]
Charlotte and Billy began to travel during summer months. There were a number of trips into New Mexico with Dorothy’s family. In the early 1980’s they started camping. This led to extensive vacations throughout the western states. There were visits with Paul’s family in San Diego and Billy’s cousins in Oregon. One of the highlights of their travels was attending the opening ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.