D. Parke

D. Davis Parke, 71 of Aurora, Colorado, died unexpectedly Wednesday March 13, 2013 in his home. The son of Davis and Clara Parke, he was born September 25, 1941 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was raised in Bridger Canyon outside of Bozeman, Montana.
Dave was preceded in death by his parents, his younger brother Robbie, and sisters Ann and Jo. He is survived by his brothers Charlie and Paul, his sons Rob and Ron, grandson Niko, nephews Dennis and Arnold, nieces Pam, Piper, Wendy and Marjo, and numerous great nieces and nephews.
Dave married Christine Molitor on August 18th, 1963 in Bozeman. They moved to the Denver area in 1967, and shortly afterwards, Dave sold his beloved 1957 Thunderbird to make the down payment on a small rental property in Lakewood. This was the beginning of a lifelong passion for remodeling and real estate investment. Divorced in 1982, Dave never remarried.
Dave Parke was an MP and a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne division of the Army between 1958 and 1962. He loved to fly in and jump out of perfectly good airplanes. Completing 33 jumps during his Army career, he was proud to be one of the first soldiers to test parachuting out of a helicopter prior to the Vietnam War. Dave continued to pursue his love of flying later in life, piloting an ultra-lite airplane. Working for over 33 years at Automatic Laundry, he trained many of the brave men in the Denver workforce who keep the Front Range smelling clean. He loved using tools and always had a project or two to work on. When you needed help on a real puzzler, he could always give good suggestions on how to solve it. He would base his advice on solid experience and with slow… calm… careful… consideration, he was usually finally! right. He and his dry humor will be sorely missed by at least 80% of the people who knew him, and he would be o.k. with that.