FORT SMITH — Rebecca Bivens Parke,

of Fort Smith, Ark., beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister and friend, unexpectedly departed this life on March 26, 2022 at Heber Springs. She was 69.

Rebecca was born on November 27, 1952, in Little Rock. She was preceded in death by her parents, William Henry Bivens and Jean Bittle Bivens.

She is survived by Stephen Parke, her good and faithful husband and companion for 37 years; her daughter, Laura Elizabeth Brantmeier of Rogers; granddaughters, Parke Grace and Elizabeth Brantmeier (to whom she was affectionately known as “Meme”); sister, Jananne Bivens Reding (David) of Little Rock; sistersin-law, Linda Alderson (Les) of Tucson, Ariz., and Kathryn Parke (Susan) of Pittsburg, Kan.; and numerous cousins and nephews.

Rebecca held a Master’s Degree in Health Occupations from the University of Arkansas and she taught school for a period of time. She and Stephen were married in 1984 and immediately the two of them immediately became and active and positive presence in the Fort Smith community. Further, she was a member of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Fort Smith and she, along with Stephen, was active in all aspects of her church.

Rebecca was, first and foremost, a family woman. Her steadfast love for Stephen, Laura and the girls, and her sister Jananne was unwavering and indivisible each to each. Her inclination toward patience and her earnest disposition sustained both immediate and extended family through good times and bad. There can be strength in gentleness. Rebecca was the proof of that.

While she was a woman of many virtues she was not without her flaws. For example, Rebecca liked turnips (or beets? Something equally vile), which at least one of her cousins found inexplicable every Thanksgiving. This concerned her not in the slightest and her enjoyment of turnips during the Holidays was likewise undiminished.

Rebecca was a rock. She was an engine for goodness and kindness. They don’t much make them like her very often and the recognition of this makes the void left by her untimely passing exceptionally acute. But as the poet said, “Life goes on. I forget just why.”

Life goes on. That is what Rebecca would want. And so we go forth thanking God for the time, too brief as it surely seems to our minds and hearts that know only the temporal, for the time He lent His precious Rebecca Bivens Parke to us.

Arrangements are incomplete at this time. In lieu of flowers the family requests that memorial gifts in Rebecca’s name be made at the giver’s discretion to First Christian Church or to any of these other ministries serving the least among us that were close to her heart: Hope Campus homeless ministry, World Central Kitchen, World Food Programme USA or to River Valley Food Bank.

The family is being served by Olmstead Funeral Home of Heber Springs. The online Tribute Wall may be signed at www.olmstead.cc.