Violet Parks

Violet and Raymond Parks pose for a picture at his office in Atlanta. She holds the first stock car trophy from Lakewood Speedway, while Raymond holds one of the trophies from when Bill France Sr. drove for him.

Violet first met Raymond at one of his favorite places, the bank.

“In the seventies, Raymond did business at the National Bank of Georgia, which was down the street from his office.  I just remember whenever he would come in everybody got nervous because he never made personal appearances unless there was a problem.  Once he let me borrow his truck when I was moving in 1979, and it went from there.”

Mrs. Parks is originally from North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

“I lived in the same neighborhood as Benny Parsons,” she told us.  “I was five when he was born.  I always remember looking at him in grandmother’s cradle and all the blond hair he had.”

Parsons grew up to be a NASCAR champion before becoming a top television race analyst.

Violet and Raymond had a simple wedding when Fulton County Superior Court Judge Charles Wofford performed the ceremony.

“Charlie used to have a restaurant at Tenth Street and Hemphill, just up the street from me in the old days,” Raymond said.  “We had been friends for years, so one day he stopped by the house on the way to court and that was it.”

“Maybe we kept it a little too simple,” he joked.