John Parke, 66

John Parke, formerly of Acton, passed away Friday, June 26, 2026, at his home in Partlow, Virginia. John was born at Emerson Hospital on Columbus Day, October 12, 1959, son of the late John Henry Parke and Anna (nee Luhaink) Parke of Acton. 

John grew up with his parents and four siblings in the historic Timothy Minot House on Bedford Street, across from Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Johnny’s father, John Henry “Goo-Goo” Parke, taught him a love of nature early in his life, taking Johnny out by canoe to tend raccoon trap lines on the Acton and Sudbury Rivers. 

Summers for the family were spent at Bourne Scenic Park, overlooking the Cape Cod Canal. With clambakes, sunburns, and sand between your toes, those were classic New England summers for the family. Johnny boasted that his father could cast a striper plug all the way across the canal. Young John caught the fishing bug and was a saltwater and freshwater angler all his life. 

After moving to Virginia in the late 1970s, Johnny met and married Nancy Weyant, who survives him after 41 years of marriage. 

When not working as a carpenter or fishing on the local lakes, John played guitar and sang in nursing homes and for other groups of lonely people. He played in the band at his beloved Mount Olive Baptist Church in Partlow, where he is remembered for soulful and emotional renditions of traditional Christian hymns. 

Popular as a boy and again as a man, he will be greatly missed by many. John is survived by his wife Nancy Weyant; a brother Dana of Bourne; a sister Leslie Whitehead of Hubbardston; and the many wonderful people in Virginia whom he considered his family. He was predeceased by his parents and his sisters Audrey Barrington Christian and Jacqueline Parke-Hayward. 

May he rest in peace.

A celebration of life will take place in Virginia later this summer or in early fall.