Obituary of Lucille Parks Sterling

Lucille Calena Parks Sterling Lucille Calena Parks Sterling passed away peacefully at her home of 34 years on South Merritt Island on April 12, 2012, at the age of 91. Lucille was born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in the small fishing village of Wingate on June 28, 1920. She graduated from Crapo High School and went on to Salisbury State Teachers College in Salisbury, Maryland. As an Elementary School teacher she began shaping young minds in Annapolis and Baltimore, Maryland, Fairfax County Virginia and in Hawaii. While at Salisbury State Teachers College she met her husband of 69 years, Major General Eugene Bertram Sterling (USAF Retired) of Crisfield, Maryland. They were married on January 14, 1943 in Marianna, Florida, the same day Eugene graduated from the Army Air Corps pilot school. On that day, she pinned silver wings on his chest and gold bars on his shoulders. The following day, she returned to her teaching job and her husband went off to fly war missions in the China Burma India Theater. Thus began a lifetime of travel all over the world with her husband and three children. Traveling behind the Iron Curtain, walking the Great Wall of China, cruising the Rhine River and traveling across the United States, she was the strength and support of her husband and children. Lucille instilled a love for knowledge and learning of all things big and small to everyone she met. Her special interests were gardening, reading, history, supporting her Air Force community and her family. Her strong Christian faith was evidenced everyday in the life that she lived. She was predeceased by her parents, Bronza Malone Parks, a well-known Chesapeake Bay boatbuilder, and Katie Thelma Lewis Parks and her sisters, Irene Geneva Parks Anderson and Martha Rosetta Parks Todd. She is survived by her devoted husband, Major General Eugene Bertram Sterling (USAF Retired); son, Lieutenant Colonel Barry Eugene Sterling (USAF Retired) and daughter-in-law, Renee Sterling of Fairfax Station, Virginia; daughter, Donna Jean Sterling Greer and son-in-law J. Rex Greer of Albuquerque, New Mexico; daughter Major Gail Ann Sterling-Joubert (USAF Retired) and son-in-law Colonel Pierre Joubert (USAF Retired) of Merritt Island, Florida; her twin grandsons Matthew Sterling Joubert and Timothy Robert Joubert who are both college AF ROTC Cadets; step-granddaughters Andrea Nicole Joubert and Haley Cabe Harrigan; two treasured sisters, Mary Rosina Parks Harding of Cambridge, Maryland and Joyce Estelle Parks Wiley of Milford, Delaware; and numerous nieces and nephews of whom she was very proud. Interment will be at the Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.