Evelyn Parks Barrett, PhD was born in San Saba, Texas, on November 10, 1942, to Thomas Earl Parks and Emma Scott Parks. She departed her earthly life on Sunday, September 1, 2024, in San Marcos, Texas. She is survived by her loving husband, Euel Dean Barrett of San Marcos; one daughter, Lisa Barrett Jones (Mark) of Dripping Springs; one son, John Earl Barrett (Piper) of Wimberley; five grandchildren including Philip Jones (Ann Evans) of Georgetown, Bethany Jones Kronberg (Victor) of Austin, Lindsey Jones of Pflugerville, Bailey Barrett of Fort Worth, and Brooke Barrett of Los Angeles, California; and one great-grandson Barrett Jones of Georgetown. She is also survived by one sister, Margaret Parks Conner (Don) of Lubbock, and numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Evelyn’s interests were focused on her family, her church, educational pursuits, reading on a wide variety of topics, and needlework. She was raised in the rural community of Locker and enjoyed childhood pursuits of horseback riding and doing country chores as well as learning to cook and sew from her home economics teacher mother. Her younger sister wanted to do everything she did which sometimes irritated her, but she still read stories aloud so both girls could hear the story at the same time. She graduated from Richland Springs High School as valedictorian in 1961. Following her marriage to Dean in that same year, she completed her BA at Howard Payne University. By this time, she and Dean were parents to Lisa and John Earl. The family moved to San Marcos in 1971 because Dean worked in Austin, and she could complete her Master’s Degree at Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State). She taught science at San Marcos CISD for 30 years and impacted numerous young people with her interesting and fun classes. In her spare time, she completed her PhD in science education from the University of Texas-Austin in December 1996. Evelyn also created beautiful needlepoint pillows and did other craft projects. She made a quilt for each of her five grandchildren when they graduated high school. She was a former member of the Joy Choir at her church, Texas Retired Teachers, DAR, and Delta Kappa Gamma. She had loved going out for lunch with the same group of women friends for at least 50 years. At the time of her passing, she and Dean had enjoyed 63 years and 4 months of marriage.
Visitation will be held Thursday, September 5, 5:00-7:00 p.m. at Pennington Funeral Home (323 N. Comanche St., San Marcos). Funeral services will be conducted by Senior Pastor Chad Chaddick at the First Baptist Church of San Marcos (325 McCarty Lane San Marcos) on Friday, September 6, at 10:00 a.m. with interment to take place at 3:00 p.m. at the Locker Cemetery near FM 500 Richland Springs, Texas.
Memorials can be made to the Locker Cemetery ℅ Doyle Slaughter at 5074 CR 246 Richland Springs, TX 76871, or Mission Able ℅ First Baptist Church, 325 W McCarty Lane, San Marcos, TX 78666.