Joyce Parks was a member of the Peoples Temple and is one of the survivors from Jonestown. Joyce Parks was first introduced to the People’s Temple when her parents started attending in Indiana in 1954 (Reiterman, Raven, 49). Her family included her parents, Jack and Rheaviana Beam, and her two siblings, Jack Arnold and Eleanor Beam, who were all followers of the Peoples Temple (Kohl, 2010).
While at the Peoples Temple in San Francisco, Joyce Parks was one of Jim Jones’ personal nurses, but once she was in Guyana, she was just a registered nurse (RYMUR 6-528; RYMUR 15-1207-7). Joyce Parks was one of Dr. Larry Schacht’s two nurses, the other nurse being Judy Ijames (Reiterman, Raven, 392). Dr. Schacht was the medical professional in Jonestown, and reports show that Dr. Schacht did not have the proper certifications and experience for his occupation (Reiterman, Raven 417; RYMUR 8-725). Both Joyce Parks and Judy Ijames stated that Dr. Schacht could be reasonable at times, but with his past as a drug abuser ‘he lived on a hair trigger’, and both would complain about his fits (Reiterman, Raven, 392).
Joyce Parks was a knowledgeable and accurate nurse. There was one instance in Guyana where Eileen Bollers had fallen ill and the Georgetown doctors were unable to diagnose her. Joyce Parks was then brought in and she was able to accurately diagnose Mrs. Boller’s problem and gave the right prescription (Reiterman, Raven, 418). Joyce Parks was also a part of the Planning Commission at the Peoples Temple, although she was not a part of the inner circle (RYMUR 6-528; RYMUR 21-1557-5; RYMUR 24-1681-16).
In Joyce Park’s personal life, she married another Peoples Temple member Dale Parks. Dale Parks also came from a family that had been a part of the Peoples Temple since Indiana in 1954 (RYMUR 24-1681-16, RYMUR 24-168-17, RYMUR 24-1681-18, RYMUR 24-1681-19, RYMUR 24-1681-20). Dale Parks’ parents were Jerry and Patricia Parks, and he had two sisters, Brenda and Tracy. Patricia Parks, Joyce Parks’ mother-in-law, was one of those who were killed, by being shot in the head when trying to leave Guyana (RYMUR 24-1681-16, RYMUR 24-168-17, RYMUR 24-1681-18, RYMUR 24-1681-19, RYMUR 24-1681-20).
Joyce Parks was a nurse in Jonestown until September, 1978 when she then worked in Georgetown, and then in Caracas, Venezuela in October, 1978 (RYMUR 16-1270). During the time of the mass murders, killings, and suicides in Jonestown, Joyce Parks was still in Venezuela (RYMUR 8-714; RYMUR 16-1305-2). After hearing the news about what happened in Jonestown, Joyce Parks went to the Peoples Temple in San Francisco (RYMUR 8-714). While at the headquarters in San Francisco, Joyce Parks told reporters, “I’ve lost my mother, father, sister, son and possibly my husband…I still cannot believe it all happened,” (New York Times, 1978).
Index of living individuals in RYMUR documents. Alternative Considerations of Jonestown Peoples Temple. (n.d.). Accessed at https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=13763
Kohl, L. (2010). Rheaviana Beam: A Kaleidoscope of Parts. Alternative Considerations of Jonestown Peoples Temple. Accessed at https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=34287
The New York Times. (1978, November 24). Coast Cultists are Still in Shock. The New York Times. Accessed at https://www.nytimes.com/1978/11/24/archives/coast-cultists-are-still-in-shock-minister-called-humanitarian.html
Tom Grubbs, Joyce Parks, and Helen Swinney at Stabroek Market in Georgetown, 1974. (1974). Photograph, Georgetown. Accessed at https://digitallibrary.sdsu.edu/islandora/object/sdsu%3A44492
Jim Jones, Marceline Baldwin Jones, Joyce Parks, Jim Randolph, and Christine Lucientes Waiting for a Plane, 1974. (1974). Photograph, to or from Guyana. Accessed at https://digitallibrary.sdsu.edu/islandora/object/sdsu%3A44451
Reiterman, T., & Jacobs, J. (2008). Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People. J.P. Tarcher/Penguin.