Gary Stuart Parks, 81, of Huntsville, passed away late Thursday night. A man fueled by his passion for the arts, he dedicated his life to performance and music education. He said that he was truly in his element when conducting musicians at all levels of development, from the most inexperienced to professional musicians.
A long-time Huntsville resident for 44 years, Gary was born in Baltimore, MD on August 13, 1943 to parents Charlotte and Powell Parks. He graduated from Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and attended Boston University where he studied Oboe Performance and met the love of his life Janet S. Hollows, a Church Organ Performance and Music Education major, whom he married in 1966 following their graduation. After their wedding, Gary spent six weeks as a Fellowship Student in the orchestra of the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony. Immediately following this program, he was enlisted in the United States Air Force and performed as an oboist with the United States Air Force Band of Washington, D.C., under the direction of Colonel Arnald D. Gabriel where, in addition to formal performances in the United States, he toured Europe and South America. While with the band, he was one of the founding members of the Air Force Woodwind Quintet. After four years of service, Gary and his family moved to New York where he studied and was awarded his master’s degree in Conducting and Oboe Performance from Ithaca College, enrolled on a teaching fellowship.
Throughout Boston, New York, Tennessee, Florida, and Alabama, Gary conducted symphony and chamber orchestras, opera, ballet, musical theater, and youth orchestras. While living in Jacksonville, FL, he played oboe and English horn in the Jacksonville Symphony, was the conductor of the Greater Jacksonville Youth Symphony, and was a strings instructor for Duval County schools among other credits. During the summers of 1977-1982, he was the conductor of the Cumberland Orchestra at the Sewanee Summer Music Center in Tennessee. When he and his family of five moved to Huntsville, AL in 1980, Gary was the conductor for the Huntsville Youth Orchestras and within a few years, also conducted the Decatur Chamber Orchestra, Huntsville Opera Theater, and the Shoals Symphony.
A significant highlight of Gary’s career was his involvement with the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra of Huntsville. He was the founding music director of the METRO Youth Orchestra starting in 1987 and served as music director and conductor for twenty years. During this time, he led the METRO Youth Orchestra when they were invited to perform at Carnegie Hall three times. While involved with METRO, he was asked to guest conduct a concert in Europe with the Pleven Philharmonic of Bulgaria in June 1999.
When not music directing or conducting for the Huntsville community, Gary was a tenured strings teacher for Huntsville City Schools for 25 years where he taught upwards of 300 different students each school year ranging from fourth grade to twelfth as well as worked as a private music teacher for aspiring oboe musicians. Numerous students of Gary’s went on to perform professionally and taught music in schools themselves. A Past President of the Alabama Orchestra Association, his professional affiliations included the Music Education National Conference, the Alabama Music Educators Association, the Conductors’ Guild, and the American Symphony Orchestra League.
Because of Gary and Janet’s dedication to music, it comes as no surprise that the love of the arts is a strong foundation for his family; with unbridled encouragement, his children and grandchildren are experienced in ballet, theatre, violin, viola, flute, piano, cello, saxophone, voice, and French horn to name a handful. A true supporter, Gary found the time during his full schedule to travel to each concert, recital, or performance possible as recently as two weeks before his passing while teaching his family just like his own students when he could.
While music held a large part of his life, Gary’s interests were well-rounded as he was also passionate about the Baltimore Orioles baseball team, the Baltimore Ravens football team, the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, and travel.
Gary was preceded in death by his parents and survived by his loving and devoted wife of almost fifty-nine years Janet; his three children – Kim Parks-Bourn (Rod) of Dundalk, MD, Bill Parks (Juli) of Memphis, TN, and Sara Alexander (Michael) of Huntsville, AL; his five grandchildren – Carolyn Frances Holley (Joseph), Bobby and William Parks, and Colin and Erin Bourn; step-grandson Drayke Alexander (Maya); step-great-grandson Marcus Alexander; brother Bruce Smith; and nephew Chad Smith.
In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests monetary or instrument donations to Microwave Dave Music Education Foundation as this is a local non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring North Alabama youth by supporting music education. https://microwavedavemef.org/make-a-donation/
A memorial service will be held in the spring as a celebration of Gary’s life and commitment to the Huntsville music community.
