The LPGA lost a beloved member of its family on Jan. 23 when Louise Bruce Parks passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer.

The longtime San Diego resident was a leader in the area’s golf community, teaching the game for nearly three decades after a Tour career that spanned more than 10 years. Born Nov. 26, 1953, outside Toronto, Canada, Parks joined the LPGA in 1972 after an impressive amateur career.

She was the 1968 and 1970 Junior World Champion, was low medalist at the 1970 National Juniors and was named San Diego Golfer of the Year in 1968, 1970 and 1971. Parks came from a golfing pedigree, as her grandmother, Margaret McGillvary Bruce, won the 1924 Scottish Women’s Amateur Championship.

Parks taught at the San Diego Golf Academy for more than a decade before moving on to coach the men’s and women’s golf teams at Cuyamaca College in 2000. Her warm personality made her extremely popular with her students and players.

“She touched a lot of golfers, that’s for sure,” said Daryl Dyte, who taught with Parks at the San Diego Golf Academy. “She was just so warm, nice and smiley all the time. She was always laughing and was refreshing to be around.

“She was a life teacher, not just a golf teacher.”

When A.J. Bonar hired Parks at the San Diego Golf Academy, he knew he had chosen a special person.

“She was just so good in so many ways,” Bonar said. “She was a wonderful player, and she had a great sense for teaching. She really understood new golfers in a way that many strong players don’t, and she was patient with them, too. It was really fun to watch.

“She was able to teach them skills with their golf clubs that they never thought they could do. She had a big heart, and she cared that people should play better golf. It just mattered to her. She had the biggest heart you ever saw in any human being.”

Former LPGA player Barb Moxness played on Tour with Parks and also remembers her fondly.

“She was a gentle person,” Moxness said. “Every time Louise walked in the room, there was a gentleness and peace about her, and she always had a wonderful presence like that wherever she was. She had a great sense of humor, so it was really fun to be around her.”

Parks amassed $106,299 in career earnings and turned heads by finishing sixth at the 1980 U.S. Women’s Open. That was the same year she married Richard Parks, and the couple had two children, Elizabeth and Nelson.

She is also survived by sisters, Patricia Watts and Arlene Gross, and a brother, Ian Bruce.

“She was just always so full of life,” Watts said. “She would always tell jokes when she was teaching, and all of the people she taught couldn’t say enough good things about Louise. She was marvelous.”

Parks affected many with gentle, positive nature

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