Deborah Ann Cheves
December 19, 1943 — November 28, 2022
Deborah Ann “Debbie” Price Cheves, 78, of Huntington Beach, California passed away on Monday, November 28, 2022, at her home after a prolonged battle with cancer.
She was born on December 19, 1943, to Herbert Hadley Price and Dorothea Snoderly Price in Chillicothe, Missouri and was raised on a family farm in Dawn, Missouri. She attended Dawn Elementary School and Southwest High School. She graduated from Northwest Missouri State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education in 1964. She completed her Master’s degree at the University of Missouri, Kansas City in 1968 and her PhD in 1973. Debbie and former spouse, Ken Cheves, had a daughter, Kendra Dawn Cheves, in 1974. Debbie married Terry Parks in 1981, to whom she was married for 41 years.
Debbie devoted her career to educating young minds. She started teaching first and second grade in Park Hill School District and then spent 19 years as a reading specialist and elementary school principal at Oak Park Elementary School and Rising Star Elementary School in the Shawnee Mission School District in Kansas. She and Terry then moved to Michigan, where Debbie spent 11 years as an elementary school principal at Edmundson Elementary School and as a curriculum director in the Lamphere School District. Debbie was a member of the St. Clair Women’s League and authored multiple children’s books and musicals during her career and retirement.
Debbie is survived by her husband, Terry Parks; daughter, Kendra (Cheves) and husband, Dan Miller, of Huntington Beach, and their daughter, Hadley Belle Miller; step-son, Glenn and wife, Stacy Parks of Shawnee, Kansas, and their children, Cameron and Ashley Parks, and Cody and Lauren Parks; step-daughter, Mary Beth (Parks) and husband, Jim McGrew, of Shawnee, Kansas and their children, CJ and Vanessa McGrew, and Tyler McGrew; and great grandchildren Mason Parks, Madison Parks, Charlotte Parks, and Harper McGrew; brother-in-law, Richard Larson; niece, Krystal and husband Chris Jones and their three children; and nephew, Kevin and wife, Amy Larson, and their three children. She is preceded in death by her parents, Herbert Hadley Price and Dorothea (Snoderly) Price; brother, John Hadley Price; sister, Linda Sue (Price) Larson; and aunts and uncles.
Memorial services will be held at 10:00 A.M., Friday, December 23, 2022, at Koup Family Funeral Home, Eureka, Kansas with Pastor Linda Pope of the First United Methodist Church of Eureka officiating. Cremation has been effected. Inurnment will follow at Greenwood Cemetery, Eureka.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions may be made to the Dr. Deborah Ann Cheves Education Scholarship at Northwest Missouri State University. Please make checks payable to The Northwest Foundation and send them to Northwest Foundation, Inc., 800 University Dr., Maryville, MO 64468, noting the Dr. Deborah Ann Cheves Education Scholarship on the check. Memorial contributions may alternatively be made to the Southwest R-1 School District, Ludlow, Missouri. Contributions may be sent in care of Koup Family Funeral Home, PO Box 595, Eureka KS 67045, which is overseeing arrangements. Condolences may be left for the family online at koupfunerals.com.
She was born on December 19, 1943, to Herbert Hadley Price and Dorothea Snoderly Price in Chillicothe, Missouri and was raised on a family farm in Dawn, Missouri. She attended Dawn Elementary School and Southwest High School. She graduated from Northwest Missouri State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education in 1964. She completed her Master’s degree at the University of Missouri, Kansas City in 1968 and her PhD in 1973. Debbie and former spouse, Ken Cheves, had a daughter, Kendra Dawn Cheves, in 1974. Debbie married Terry Parks in 1981, to whom she was married for 41 years.
Debbie devoted her career to educating young minds. She started teaching first and second grade in Park Hill School District and then spent 19 years as a reading specialist and elementary school principal at Oak Park Elementary School and Rising Star Elementary School in the Shawnee Mission School District in Kansas. She and Terry then moved to Michigan, where Debbie spent 11 years as an elementary school principal at Edmundson Elementary School and as a curriculum director in the Lamphere School District. Debbie was a member of the St. Clair Women’s League and authored multiple children’s books and musicals during her career and retirement.
Debbie is survived by her husband, Terry Parks; daughter, Kendra (Cheves) and husband, Dan Miller, of Huntington Beach, and their daughter, Hadley Belle Miller; step-son, Glenn and wife, Stacy Parks of Shawnee, Kansas, and their children, Cameron and Ashley Parks, and Cody and Lauren Parks; step-daughter, Mary Beth (Parks) and husband, Jim McGrew, of Shawnee, Kansas and their children, CJ and Vanessa McGrew, and Tyler McGrew; and great grandchildren Mason Parks, Madison Parks, Charlotte Parks, and Harper McGrew; brother-in-law, Richard Larson; niece, Krystal and husband Chris Jones and their three children; and nephew, Kevin and wife, Amy Larson, and their three children. She is preceded in death by her parents, Herbert Hadley Price and Dorothea (Snoderly) Price; brother, John Hadley Price; sister, Linda Sue (Price) Larson; and aunts and uncles.
Memorial services will be held at 10:00 A.M., Friday, December 23, 2022, at Koup Family Funeral Home, Eureka, Kansas with Pastor Linda Pope of the First United Methodist Church of Eureka officiating. Cremation has been effected. Inurnment will follow at Greenwood Cemetery, Eureka.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions may be made to the Dr. Deborah Ann Cheves Education Scholarship at Northwest Missouri State University. Please make checks payable to The Northwest Foundation and send them to Northwest Foundation, Inc., 800 University Dr., Maryville, MO 64468, noting the Dr. Deborah Ann Cheves Education Scholarship on the check. Memorial contributions may alternatively be made to the Southwest R-1 School District, Ludlow, Missouri. Contributions may be sent in care of Koup Family Funeral Home, PO Box 595, Eureka KS 67045, which is overseeing arrangements. Condolences may be left for the family online at koupfunerals.com.
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