Clara Emma (Cannon) Parks was born April 9, 1922 in Yonkers, Wagoner County, Oklahoma. She moved to Wagoner with her family at a young age and attended Wagoner schools where she graduated from high school. She was a longtime member of the First Baptist Church in Wagoner. For much of her life Clara was a Muskogee resident. She worked for the Tasty Bread Company for 16 years before joining the Muskogee District Attorney's office. She was employed there for more than eighteen years as an administrative assistant. Upon retirement she was recognized as the first person to actually retire from the office, having worked for five district attorneys' during her career. Clara was a lifetime member of ESA, encompassing over forty-six years. Clara departed this life on Monday, Oct. 1, 2012 in Muskogee, OK. She was preceded in death by her husband, L.L. "Cotton" Parks; her parents, T. Bessie and Bessie L. (Mitchell) Cannon; a daughter, Carolyn Wheeler; granddaughter, Edith Bingham; five brothers, John, Walter, VanNoy, Leonard and Bill ; and three sisters, Myrtle, Mary and Cherry. Survivors include her daughter and son-in-law, Janet and Ray Grandstaff of Checotah; three grandchildren, Irvin Wheeler and wife,Kim, Tammy Powell and husband, Nick and Tiffanny Grandstaff; five great grandchildren, Whitney Wheeler, Shelby and Russell Wayne Bingham and Riley and Kinley Powell; her nephews and nieces, whom she loved as her own, Johnny Cannon, Robert Cannon, Eddie Brody, Shirley McCollough, Clara Lou Vaught, Linda Roe, Marsha Morgan, Cathy Gillespie and Pam Richardson; a special second cousin, Harvey Edwards; special friends, Eulala Hill and Marian and Ronnie Bowman; other relatives and friends.