A teacher and friend lost

Flowers keep being added to a small memorial for Sarah Parks at the Moscow Charter School.

Tools

Story Published: Jul 3, 2009 at 8:04 AM PDT

Story Updated: Jul 3, 2009 at 8:04 AM PDT

By Matt Loveless

Watch the video

MOSCOW - A school and a family said goodbye Thursday, to a friend and a teacher, a young woman who touched many younger lives.

Police say 28-year-old Sarah Parks and her unborn child were murdered before a fire tore through her Moscow apartment last week.

On Thursday the Moscow Charter School, where Sarah Parks taught third grade, spent the day remembering her, as students made cards for their teacher.

Reporters were not allowed in the school for the private moment.

Charter School Board of Directors member Chris Wuthrich said it was an important step for the kids to be able to say goodbye to Mrs. Parks.

"We left it to the parents to describe for their children what happened and the circumstances," said Wuthrich. “We had an event earlier in the week, on Sunday, where we had counselors come in and parents who were interested could come to a meeting where we explained some ways to discuss the circumstances and the death with their kids."

The cards made Thursday went to a 3:00 p.m. memorial service for the family at the Church of the Nazarene in Moscow. Wuthrich said he'll remember Parks as a teacher who devoted herself to her kids.

"She was a wonderful individual; in fact she was my son's third grade teachers this past year. Very caring individual, loved her children in her class, and you can tell it radiated from her as you watched her interaction."

According to court documents, Sarah Parks was 19 weeks pregnant at the time of her death. Reports say she and her husband had planned to name the baby girl Serenity.

Current Weather

Current Temp 32.0 °F

Fair

More Weather

Current Weather

More Weather

Upload directly from your mobile device.

Learn how

YouNews

This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.