Roberta Kathleen Parks

Roberta Kathleen “Kathy” Parks was a young woman studying at Oregon State University in Corvallis when her life was tragically cut short in the spring of 1974. Known to friends and family as Kathy, she was part of the university community and had the ordinary hopes and plans of a college student building toward adulthood.

Public records and contemporary accounts identify Kathy as a student who left her dormitory at Sackett Hall on the evening of May 6, 1974, intending to meet friends on campus. Those who knew her remember a student who moved through daily campus life with the same small routines and connections that tie college communities together — classmates, dorm acquaintances, and the quiet ambitions of someone preparing for future work and independence.

For Kathy’s family and friends, the months that followed her disappearance were agonizing. Later investigations identified her among remains recovered in the Taylor Mountain area in March 1975, which brought a painful confirmation to loved ones who had been waiting for answers. While public sources record the circumstances of her death as part of the historical record, Kathy’s life was more than the manner in which it ended: she was a daughter and a college student with relationships and plans that mattered to people who loved her.

Because contemporary published obituaries or funeral notices matching her full name and the exact date of death were not found in the public obituary archives available during this research, this life story focuses on honoring Kathy’s identity as a real person whose presence on campus and place in a family and community deserve to be remembered with dignity. Her name appears in historical summaries and local remembrances of the era, and those brief mentions testify that she was known personally to others and not just to records. This page aims to preserve that human face — Roberta Kathleen “Kathy” Parks — as a young person whose life had meaning beyond the headlines and whose memory remains with those who knew her.

If family-authorized remembrances, funeral-home notices, or published obituaries become available, they should be used to further enrich this memorial with details and memories provided by those closest to her.