Kenneth Parke Memorial Scholarship Fund

 

 

 

 

      Kenneth Parke was twenty-three years old when his brother, Wayne, was born. Wayne was the youngest and Kenneth the oldest boy of thirteen children born to the Parke family. When Wayne was a senior in high school, the boys' father passed away and Kenneth did his best to guide his young brother as a father would do.

 

      Like any father, Kenneth wanted Wayne to earn an advanced degree after high school, and he did his best to guide and support his brother. "With his gentle, grinning way of getting to the point quickly, he was able to get me to think through an issue," remembers Wayne. "Without asking, he offered to loan me the money to go to Purdue." Thanks to his brother, and his own hard work, Wayne graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Civil Engineering and then began his career in the coal mining industry, following in his brother's footsteps. "I personally owe a lot to Kenny," he says.

 

      Kenneth passed away in November 2006. Not long after, Wayne established the Kenneth Parke Memorial Scholarship Fund with the Gibson County Community Foundation. The fund is Wayne's way of honoring his brother's memory, his love and support, and his belief in the power of education. The fund's proceeds will allow the East Gibson Dollars for Scholars to award a scholarship in Kenneth's name year after year to a graduating senior from Wood Memorial High School.