It is with heavy hearts that we announce our mom Virgie Marie Parker, born Virgie Marie Beagle in Trego Montana on July 31, 1936, passed away peacefully on July 1, 2025 at the age of 88.

To give you the essence of our mom, not as an obituary, which would mention that as a child, she lived in rural Montana with her six brothers and sisters in areas where they didn’t even have running water, really did hunt just to have food on the table, actually did walk miles in the snow to a one-room school, worked and boarded with a family in the small rural town of Libby, Montana to be able to attend high school, walked herself to Libby hospital for a tonsillectomy, experiences which resulted in her becoming a strong, can-do woman who was ahead of her time, but as a tribute to all she was to not only her immediate family, but also everyone in her extended family.

While our father, Keith Parker who preceded her in death by 26 years following 45 years of marriage, was the center of our universe, our mom was the glue. When Dad wanted to start a paving business in 1965, mom went to work at Safeway to support the start-up of what became Parker & Son, Inc. When a bookkeeper was needed, she went to night school, in her 40’s when a truck driver was needed, she took truck driving courses at CR, when a raker for paving was needed, she raked. Two things she was always proud of was becoming the first woman owned trucking business in Humboldt County, Diamond-T Grannie, and the nickname the paving crew gave her-Bulldog. Not only could she keep up with the crew, but she was more than able to “keep them in line”, all the while remembering she was a lady. She continued operating Parker & Son in support of her grandson, Jeremy Hoopes, until she was 85. To add to that, in her 70s she and Jim Anderson, her second-life partner, decided to buy and operate A & P Towing out of Orick, and after Jim’s passing, she continued as a partnership with Jim’s grandson Ryan Frietas.

Everything our mom accomplished in support of family businesses dims in comparison to what she did for family, whether it was for her children, siblings, nieces and nephews, or grandkids. Our early memories encompass mom taking in cousins, taking care of Dad’s parents, helping with family weddings, teaching every child in our neighborhood how to swim and ski at Ruth Lake so they were safe and any number of other areas of support for family, friends, or employees. But the best part was that she could always be counted on to jump in the car for a drive to where ever our next adventure would be. Her favorite thing was traveling, especially going on cruises. We remember how it pulled on our heart strings when we took her on a cruise for her 75th birthday, and she shared she had been so afraid she would never get to fly or cruise again. She had can-do and adventure in her soul.

Mom leaves behind her daughters, Lynette Kerr and Brenda Cobb, her son-in-law’s Jim Kerr and Doug Cobb, four grandchildren; Jeremy Hoopes and his wife Windy Scott, Ryan Hoopes and his wife Julie, Shannon Burt and her husband Brandon and Kassi Cobb, and seven great grandchildren; Miles, Landon, Trevor, Cody, Easton and the one she claims is just like her-Heidi; and two siblings; Nellie and Bob with his wife Sherry.

We want to note a special thank you to the administration and staff at Timber Ridge that supported us during mom’s last four months. While we stayed with her, we could not have navigated this without their help. Our other partner in this journey was the staff at Hospice, if anyone wants to do something in mom’s memory, please consider a contribution to Hospice of Humboldt.

Graveside services for family and friends will be held at Ocean View Cemetery on Saturday, Aug. 2 at 1 p.m. You are welcome to join the family afterwards to remember mom and share memories.

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