Gordon L. Park
Encyclopedia
Gordon Lesley Park was a petroleum engineer and geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...

 for the Chevron Oil Company, who served from 1993-1996 as a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 member of the Wyoming House of Representatives
Wyoming House of Representatives
The Wyoming House of Representatives is the lower house of the Wyoming State Legislature. There are 60 Representatives in the House, representing an equal amount of single-member constituent districts across the state, each with a population of at least 9,000. The House convenes at the Wyoming...

 from District 49 in Uinta County
Uinta County, Wyoming
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 19,742 people, 6,823 households, and 5,144 families residing in the county. The population density was 10 people per square mile . There were 8,011 housing units at an average density of 4 per square mile...

.

Park was born to Harold Gordon Park and the former Iva Hazel Edwards (born 1917) in Lexington
Lexington, Oklahoma
Lexington is a city in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, United States. The city population was 2,152 at the 2010 census. Sperling Best Places reports that over 7400 residents live in the Lexington Zip code-Geography:Lexington is located at ....

 in Cleveland County
Cleveland County, Oklahoma
Cleveland County is a county in the central part of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 255,755 at the 2010 census. Its county seat is Norman. Cleveland County is part of the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...

 in central Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

. He was reared in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, where he attended elementary school at Lost Hills
Lost Hills, California
Lost Hills is a census-designated place in Kern County, California, United States. Lost Hills is located west-northwest of Bakersfield, at an elevation of 305 feet...

 in Kern County
Kern County, California
Spreading across the southern end of the California Central Valley, Kern County is the fifth-largest county by population in California. Its economy is heavily linked to agriculture and to petroleum extraction, and there is a strong aviation and space presence. Politically, it has generally...

. He was baptized as a young man into the Southern Baptist faith. In 1950, he attended the Boy Scout Jamboree in Valley Forge
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania
The Village of Valley Forge is an unincorporated settlement located on the west side of Valley Forge National Historical Park at the confluence of Valley Creek and the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania, United States. The remaining village is in Schuylkill Township of Chester County, but once...

, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

. In 1955, he graduated from Wasco Union High School
Wasco Union High School
Wasco Union High School is a public American senior high school set in Wasco, California. The school is part of the Wasco Union High School District and takes in incoming freshman from the Wasco Union School District, Maple School District, Lost Hills Union School District, Semitropic School...

 in Wasco
Wasco, California
Wasco is a city in the San Joaquin Valley, in Kern County, California, United States. Wasco is located northwest of Bakersfield, at an elevation of 328 feet...

, also in Kern County. He then attended Bakersfield College
Bakersfield College
Bakersfield College is a public community college located in Bakersfield, California, USA. Bakersfield College has an official Twitter account at @bcrenegades and an official...

, a junior college
Junior college
The term junior college refers to different educational institutions in different countries.-India:In India, most states provide schooling through 12th grade...

 in Bakersfield
Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield is a city near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in Kern County, California. It is roughly equidistant between Fresno and Los Angeles, to the north and south respectively....

, California. In 1961, he received a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 degree in geology from the University of California at Los Angeles. He was then employed by Standard Oil
Standard Oil
Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...

 of California (subsequently Chevron) and spent the following thirty-two years working in various locations around the globe.

In 1987, Park was transferred to Evanston
Evanston, Wyoming
Evanston is a city in Uinta County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 12,359 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Uinta County.-Geography:Evanston is located at...

, the seat of Uinta County in far southwestern Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

 adjacent to the Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

 state line, as the manager of Chevron operations there. He retired from the company in 1992 and immediately ran for the Wyoming House. Park was the Republican state committeeman for Uinta County. The Parks attended the 1996 Republican National Convention
1996 Republican National Convention
The 1996 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States convened at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California, from August 12 to August 15, 1996...

 in San Diego
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...

, California, and the 2000
2000 Republican National Convention
The 2000 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States convened at the First Union Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from July 31 to August 3, 2000. The 2066 delegates assembled at the convention nominated Texas Governor George W. Bush as the Republican candidate for U.S....

 confab in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

. The District 49 seat is now held by a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

, Saundra Meyer
Saundra Meyer
Saundra Meyer is a Democratic member of the Wyoming House of Representatives, representing the 49th district since 2007. She previously served from 2001 through 2004.The seat was held by a Republican, Gordon L. Park, from 1993-1996.-External links:...

 of Evanston. The Parks have been regular donors to the Wyoming Republican Party.

Park was affiliated with Rotary International
Rotary International
Rotary International is an organization of service clubs known as Rotary Clubs located all over the world. The stated purpose of the organization is to bring together business and professional leaders to provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help...

, the Lions Club, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is an American fraternal order and social club founded in 1868...

, the Chamber of Commerce
Chamber of commerce
A chamber of commerce is a form of business network, e.g., a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to advocate on behalf of the business community...

, the Wyoming State Hospital Advisory Board, the Evanston Housing Authority, Bear River Basin
Bear River (Utah)
The Bear River is a river, approximately long, in southwestern Wyoming, southeastern Idaho, and northern Utah, in the United States. The largest tributary of the Great Salt Lake, it drains a mountainous area and farming valleys northeast of the lake and southeast of the Snake River Plain...

 Advisory Group, the Uinta County Citizens Coalition, the interest group, the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, and the Wyoming Heritage Society. He was an outdoorsman who engaged in trap shooting, camping, snowbirding
Snowbird (people)
The term snowbird is used to describe people from the U.S. Northeast, U.S. Midwest, or Canada who spend a large portion of winter in warmer locales such as California, Arizona, Florida, Texas, the Carolinas, or elsewhere along the Sun Belt region of the southern and southwest United States,...

, skiing
Skiing
Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....

, and golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

.

On July 13, 1957, Park wed the former Ann Hively (born 1938), and the couple had two children, Michael Sean Park (born 1963) and wife Janine, grandchildren Antonio, Anna, and Amanda, and Leslie Ann Carlson (born 1966) and husband Alan, all of Evanston. He was also survived by his mother; two brothers, Leonard Park of McCloud
McCloud, California
McCloud is a small town and census-designated place in Siskiyou County, California, United States. The population was 1,101 at the 2010 census, down from 1,343 at the 2000 census.-Commerce and tourism:...

, California, and Ronald Park of Bakersfield, California, and three adopted granddaughters, Pam, Megan, and Holly. He was preceded in death by his father and his brother, Raymond Park. The obituary
Obituary
An obituary is a news article that reports the recent death of a person, typically along with an account of the person's life and information about the upcoming funeral. In large cities and larger newspapers, obituaries are written only for people considered significant...

 does not specify the place or cause of death. Park was cremated
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....

.
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