John Parks is someone who expresses words through a smile and gestures with enthusiasm. Born in Reedsburg, Wis., John’s interest in appliances started in high school. He pursued that interest at Moraine Park Technical College before enlisting in the Army Reserves. He served in the reserves while also working for a home appliance dealer for about 20 years before starting his active duty military career as a drill sergeant at Fort Knox. He later became part of the Army National Guard as the Readiness NCO for Eastern Wisconsin, and present day Master Sergeant.
When John talks about his time in the Army, he’s not just telling a story. He shares the details, which included the year he was deployed to Mosul, Iraq. Handing us a photo album on a National Guard lanyard, there were a variety of scenes, including the desert base camp laundry room with Speed Queen Commercial machines, a little piece of his life at home.
A picture of dirt is a reminder of how he was a self-taught back hoe operator. Pausing on one photo in the album, he points out, “That’s Col. Julie Gerety,” explaining how she mentored him. He took away a life-long lesson – to step back and look at the bigger picture before diving into the problem. Today, he shares that lesson with his technical service team, challenging them to understand the root of problems before addressing them.
As our technical service leader for home laundry & warranty, John takes pride in the work his team does. Though there are days where the situations can be challenging, a lot of people work together to help solve it. They maintain their focus to resolve the issues as quickly and efficiently as possible. Outside of work, John enjoys spending time with his family. They have two sons who are active duty Army Soldiers and one daughter at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh studying to become a teacher.
He also loves spending time with his grandchildren. In the summer, he and his wife of 24 years enjoy taking time off to fish in Canada and the rest of the time, you will find him tinkering in his garage restoring old cars. John admits that he should be fixing them to be sold, or to be shown at a car show. However, the joy comes from bringing them back to life with his grandson. It’s an impressive list of restorations, including a ’74 Plymouth Road Runner, a bright yellow H2 Hummer, 1923 T-Bucket Roadster, and two Corvettes (’76 & ’05).
Thank you John, for your dedication and service for our country.