Jenelle M. Parks, a child-care worker and student, died Tuesday in an automobile accident on Ebenezer Road near her Chase home. She was 21.
Born Jenelle Brady in Baltimore and raised in Sparrows Point and Overlea, she was a 2000 graduate of Overlea High School, and was a state volunteer who planted trees and wildflowers on highway medians.
Mrs. Parks worked at White Marsh Child Care Center on Winding Way in Perry Hall and was studying at the Medix School in Towson to become a medical assistant.
"She was an outstanding student," said Alan Hensley, Medix School director. "Her classmates were extremely saddened. They recognized her as a good student, but also as a good friend."
"She was full of sunshine," said her mother, Christine Gangi of White Marsh. "With working and going to school, she even found time to take care of her grandmother on the weekends."
"She had a bubbling personality and a heart of gold," said Diane Holmes, who directs White Marsh Child Care Center. "She would do anything. Her children loved her."
A Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 11 a.m. today at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, 1704 Old Eastern Ave., Essex.
In addition to her mother, survivors include her husband of nearly two years, Brandon Parks; a 10-month-old daughter, Scarlet Parks; her father, Michael Gangi of White Marsh; a brother, Jamie Gangi of White Marsh; a sister, Jenine Gangi of White Marsh; and her grandmother, Rita Pfarr of Essex.
