Our History
Brunswick Memorial Park Funeral Home is a locally owned and operated funeral home, you may wonder what this means to you. Well it all started back in 1986, when Richard Parker purchased Brunswick Memorial Park as a cemetery, to provide the very best in cemetery needs for Glynn County. In 1995 he built the funeral home on the same grounds to offer even more in services for years to come. Nearly ten years later he purchased Chapel Park Cemetery in Brunswick and Oglethorpe Memorial Gardens on St. Simons Island. Once again to provide the highest level of cemetery services available.
Brunswick Memorial Park Funeral Home offers something to our client families that no other local funeral home can. We own and operate three local perpetual care cemeteries, Brunswick Memorial Park, Chapel Park Cemetery and Oglethorpe Memorial Gardens. Making arrangements for both funeral and cemetery with the same people reduces the stress associated with making those arrangements. For those who choose cremation, we also have our own on site crematory, and offer many cremation burial or inurnment options in all three of our cemeteries.
Our goal is to provide the very best in services, funeral needs, cemetery, and genuine care for the families that allow us to serve them. More families are choosing Brunswick Memorial Park Funeral Home for our variety of services and options. It is our honor to serve the people of Glynn and surrounding counties. With more and more funeral homes being owned by large “out of town” corporations, we are proud to be family owned and operated. We hope that you will allow a locally owned and family operated funeral home to serve you and your family.
Our vision is to be the leader of funeral and cemetery services in our community, this is our highest priority. We will accomplish this by ensuring genuine satisfaction, care and concern for our client-families and employees. We uphold the highest level of ethics and integrity with each and every person we come in contact with. We consider it an honor to serve those who trust us to do so. We take great pride in providing the highest level of care and service to all who choose Brunswick Memorial Park Funeral Home and cemeteries.
Thank you for your support of our calling. We respect your wishes, and desire only to serve those wishes. If you have any questions regarding the funeral home and/or the cemeteries, please do not hesitate to call on us to serve you.
Golden Isles Cremation Center
Golden Isles Cremation Center came to be out of a desire to offer the very best in respect and dignity, while keeping our service to you as simple as possible. Direct cremation gives individuals and families a different option from the traditional "funeral home". We are not just here to fill a need, but to build relationships, to earn trust and loyalty. For generations we have been committed to serving our neighbors in Brunswick and the surrounding area, assuring them of the finest personal care and understanding in their times of greatest need. Direct cremation gives an alternative to traditional services allowing the families we serve the freedom honoring the lives of their loved ones in their own way.
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Richard Parker, Owner/Operator
Richard Parker has been the Owner and Operator of Brunswick Memorial Park since 1986 when he purchased the cemetery, 9 years later he built what is now known as Brunswick Memorial Park Funeral Home. In addition, he owns the Chapel Park Cemetery and Oglethorpe Memorial Gardens, which he purchased in 2004. In 2005 he built the crematory at Brunswick Memorial Park and opened the Golden Isles Cremation Center to complete the Parker Family Company. For over 18 years, Mr. Parker has passionately served on the Board of Directors for the Georgia Cemetery Association and formerly held the title of President. He is currently the Vice President of the Georgia State Cemetery Board and has twice served as the President in the past.
Family is extremely important to Mr. Parker and he employs his wife of 43 years, Arlene, his daughter Candice Jones and his grandson Cale Thorpe honorably serves as a Junior Funeral Assistant.
Richard not only enjoys working with his family, but values spending every moment possible with them. He enthusiastically supports his grandson in his Motocross endeavors, spending most afternoons and almost every weekend driving Cale and his bike to tracks all over Georgia and Florida. -
Arlene Parker, Administrative Assistant
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Brad Whiddon, Funeral Director - Manager
Brad Whiddon is a Funeral Director and Family Service Counselor for Brunswick Memorial Park & Funeral Home. He has been a part of the Brunswick Memorial Park family since 2002, but has been in the aftercare business for over 32 years. Brad graduated from Gumpton-Jones College of Funeral Services in 1989 and has been dedicated to taking care of families in their greatest time of need since then.
Brad shares his life with his wife of 24 years, Donna, on their farm in Camden County. He enjoys taking care of the farm whenever he can spare the time, since he is also a busy father of three grown children and two beautiful grandchildren. -
Candice Parker Jones, Administrative Director
Candice Parker Jones was born in Atlanta, but has lived in Brunswick since she was 5 years old. She is a true member of the Brunswick Memorial Park family, as she is the daughter of Richard Parker, the owner of the Parker Family Company. Candice started working in the funeral home back in high school as a part of a work study program but has been an official employee since 2001.
Candice is married to Kevin Jones, who has served Glynn County as a police officer for the past 20 years. She is also a dedicated mother to her son, Cale, and the family spends as much time as they can Motocross Racing. When Candice is not in the office she can be found on the side of a dirt track watching Kevin and Cale compete. -
Felicia Lee Staat, Funeral Director
Felicia Staat is a 2011 Summa Cum Laude graduate of the Funeral Service Program of Tidewater Community College in Virginia Beach, VA. She joined Carter Funeral Home in 2011 as an apprentice and in 2013 became a licensed Funeral Director. In 2016, Felicia joined Brunswick Memorial Park Funeral Home and Golden Isles Cremation Center. She works with the other Funeral Directors and Office staff to assist families in making final arrangements during one of life's most difficult times.
Felicia is married to Chris Young and they share 5 children and 5 grandchildren. In her off time she likes to travel to near-by cities to explore, listen to good music, preferably live, and she also likes to enjoy a great glass of wine every once and awhile. -
Melody Clifton, Preneed Counselor and Insurance Agent, Funeral Director and Embalmer Apprentice
Melody was born in Elizabeth City, NC, and graduated from East Carolina University in 1988 with a BBA. She began working for Lowe's when she was a senior in high school. After retiring from Lowe's (Commercial Credit Manager), she went to work as a Corporate Credit Manager for another company, then worked as a mortgage loan officer for several years before getting into the Funeral Home business seven years ago.
Surprisingly, Melody found that she loved working in the Funeral Home and felt that she may have found her calling helping people during some of the most difficult times. It also made her see the importance of Pre-Arranging and she is so glad that that is her main job here.
If you know Melody, you already know she loves Carson, her grandson, and her two children, Sidney and Sam.
Melody loves swimming - for fun and fitness, reading, crafting (wreath making), and hanging out with her family. She is a member of Hinesville First United Methodist Church. She also loves game nights with the girls and she is also a patron of the Savannah Repertory Theatre. -
Cale Parker Thorpe, Junior Funeral Assistant
Cale Thorpe is 14 years old. When he isn't on the motocross track, you can find him at the funeral home or cemeteries helping his mom, Candice and grandfather, Richard.
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Kimberly Stevenot, Office Assistant
Kimberly Stevenot is a Vidalia, Georgia native who moved to Brunswick in 2006. After spending over a decade raising her 4 children, Kimberly joined the Brunswick Memorial Park family in 2017 when her youngest went off to Kindergarten. She is an office assistant who partners with the Funeral Directors and other office staff members to assist families in completing the necessary paperwork and processes during their time of grief.
When she is not at work, Kimberly enjoys going to the beach and watching movies with her husband, James and their children; Mason, Trip, Caden and Annaliese. She is an enthusiastic soccer/football/track/gymnastics mom and also likes reading, baking and regularly enjoys retail therapy to keep herself sane. -
Randy Watson, Funeral Assistant
Randy Watson, originally from Ware County, moved to Brunswick in 1988 to work for Pitts Toyota as a salesman. In 1993 Randy joined Jack Nelson's Alpha Motor Sales family, as a salesman/finance manager. He retired from Alpha Motor's in 2016 to spend time with his wife of 29 years, Debbie Engel Watson, and his children and grandchildren. Randy enjoys target shooting and bird watching. He is a member of Altama Presbyterian Church and started doing jailhouse ministries 14 years ago.
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James Jackson, Funeral Assistant
James Jackson is a retired Presbyterian pastor who with his wife, Linda, recently moved to Brunswick from Spartanburg, S.C.
Following retirement, James worked part time with Dunbar Funeral Home in Spartanburg for 13 years.
James and Linda moved to Brunswick to live near their daughter who is employed at the Cloister on Sea Island. Their son, Troy, and family live in Charlotte, N.C.
The Jacksons have four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Jim enjoys fishing, woodworking and antiques.
Originally from Odessa, FL., the Jacksons enjoy being among friends and family near Brunswick, and Jim is happy to be associated with Brunswick Memorial Park Funeral Home.
