GLOUCESTER – Anna L. “Blondie” (Parks) Eastman, 84, of Sheedy Park, died Saturday evening, October 11, 2014, following a brief illness. She was the wife of the late Harry W.C. Eastman, Jr., who died in March of 2007. They had shared thirty-seven years of marriage.
Born in Gloucester on April 2, 1930, she was the daughter of the late Harold and Bernice (Mitchell) Parks. She was a lifelong resident of Gloucester.
Once her children were in school, she worked as a home health aide for Action, Inc. for eighteen years. Through this position she enriched the lives of many, whom she became very close to.
An active independent woman, in her late forties, she got her driver’s license and went back to Gloucester High School to earn her GED. Blondie attended the Cape Ann YMCA, where for 25 years she participated in water aerobics and was a proud member of “The Wet Hens.”
She was an avid gardener and enjoyed bringing beauty to the neighborhood she resided in, encouraging other tenants to do the same.
After raising her nine children and countless hours babysitting her grandchildren, she enjoyed the simple pleasures of cooking for her family, doing a good puzzle or watching a movie.
Blondie always had a big smile; her positive attitude and exceptional sense of humor were infectious and she encouraged her children to inherit these same traits. She loved to tell jokes and to make people laugh just as much as she laughed at her own jokes. She had enough funny sayings to fill a book. Now they will be repeated by her family with smiles on their faces.
A loving and devoted wife, mother and grandmother, she was incredibly proud of her family and loved to share stories about them.
She is survived by her nine children, Christine, wife of Joseph Simoes, Joanne, wife of Yuri Morozov, Brenda, wife of Douglas Pike, Yvonne Carpenter, fiancée of Robert Reardon, Kenneth Perrin, Jr., Ralph Perrin, Keith, husband of Patricia (Davalos) Perrin, Kevin, husband of Annette (Spychalla) Perrin, Timothy Perrin, partner of David Smith; six stepchildren, Linda O’Leary, Beth, wife of Richard Ilges, Amy Newman, James, husband of Debra Eastman, Jon Eastman, Mark, husband of Mindy Eastman; grandchildren, Jody, Marlena and Troy Simoes, Isaac, Alicia and Brendan Pike, Derek, Autumn and Lincoln Perrin and Sean and Travis Carpenter; twelve step-grandchildren; four great-grandchildren and many nieces, nephews and dear friends. She was also predeceased by four brothers, Harold, Daniel, Gordon and Ralph Parks.
Her funeral service will be held on Thursday morning in the Pike-Grondin Funeral Home, 61 Middle Street, Gloucester at 10 a.m. Visitation will be held on Wednesday from 6 to 8 p.m. Relatives and friends are cordially invited to attend. Interment will be held in the Dolliver Memorial Cemetery.