Karen Windsor Parks

Karen Windsor Parks of Easton, MD died at Memorial Hospital at Easton on Tuesday, November 13, 2001. She was 45. Born in Crisfield, MD on February 10, 1956 she was the daughter of Earl M. and Anne Morgan Windsor. After graduating from Mardela High School in 1974 she attended the MacQueen Gibbs Willis School of Nursing where she received her Registered Nurse Diploma in 1977. She later earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Wilmington College in 1994, her certification in Nursing Administration in 1994 and her Masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of Maryland in 1997. From 1977 to 1981 she was employed as a staff nurse at Memorial Hospital at Easton and then as a staff nurse at the Mid-Shore Dialysis Center until 1984. From 1984 to 1990 she was again associated with Memorial hospital at Easton as a Renal Coordinator and staff nurse in Pediatrics. In 1990 she began her association with Dorchester General Hospital in Cambridge, where she was Nurse Manager in Telemetry in 1990, Nursing Resources Coordinator in 1991, Director of Nursing from 1991 to 1994, Vice President from 1994 to 1995 and then Director of Patient Care Services in 1995. As part of Shore Health Systems she was Director of Critical Care Nursing in 1996 and Director of Patient care Services from 1998 until her illness. Other activities included her development of the first Competency Plan for Shore Health Systems as required by the JCAHO, was a key player in establishing and finalizing the relationship between the University of Maryland and Shore Health Systems in relation to the Critical Care Transport Team, located nurses for the local 4-H Camp and the Asthma Camp, served on the MD Board of Licensing for Competency Criteria in Baltimore, was active in the development of Shore Health System’s Partnership- a collaborative organization of professional nurses, as well as being active in the White Marsh P.T.A. A member of the American Nursing Association, she was a member of Nelson’s Memorial United Methodist Church in Hebron, MD. She loved to read, write poetry, travel, drawing of pencil portraits and was fond of animals, especially her dogs and horses. Surviving, in addition to her parents, are her husband, Keith A. Parks, Sr. whom she married November 27, 1980; two sons, Kevin W. Parks of Preston and Keith A. Parks, Jr. of Easton; a nephew, Reilly Morgan Bell of Alabama and numerous aunts, uncles and close friends. A sister, Sherry Lynn Bell died on September 5, 1998. Funeral services will be held on Monday, November 19, 2001 at 11:00 AM at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church, Easton, MD. Burial will be at Woodlawn Memorial Park, Easton. Friends may call at Fellows, Helfenbein & Newnam Funeral Home, P. A., Easton on Sunday, November 18, 2001 from 3 to 5 PM. Memorial donations may be made to Talbot Hospice Foundation, 586 Cynwood Dr., Easton, MD 21601 or the Talbot County Humane Society, P. O. Box 1143, Easton, MD 21601.