Mesa - Jeffrey (Jeff) Park, 64, passed away March 7, 2025. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania April

14,1960 to parents D. Frank Park and Florence Park.with siblings Michael, Gerald (Jerry),

Martin (Marty) deceased, Julie, Joel, Frank (Chip), Amy, Patricia (Patti) and Donald (Donnie).

The family lived in Pittsburgh, Dayton Ohio, and Cambridge Ohio before moving to Mesa in

1973.

Jeff treasured his family connections. His Italian paternal grandparents lived in

Vandergrift, Pennsylvania. His Polish maternal grandparents lived in Pittsburgh. When his

mother and father met however, they only lived a few doors apart, on the same street in

Vandergrift. As a young child in Pittsburgh Jeff spent time with his maternal grandparents.

They lived above his family in a duplex house in Pittsburgh. Sundays were spent in Vandergrift

with his paternal grandparents attending St. Gertrude for church and spaghetti dinner after the family moved to Dayton and then onto Cambridge Ohio in 1967.

Jeff loved basketball at St. Benedicts and swimming at the YMCA in Cambridge. He excelled at both. Jeff was allowed to attend a basketball camp in West Virginia with his older brothers as long as he paid for it himself. Pistol Pete Maravich, Connie Hawkins, Hot Rod (Rodney) Hundley led the camp. At the end of the first day Hot Rod told him you can't run in such big shoes. They were hand me downs from his older brothers and all he had. The next morning Hot Rod showed up with a brand new pair of white hi top converse for Jeff. Those shoes were his pride and joy! Jeff hustled the entire camp with those new shoes and was awarded the Hustle Award much to the chagrin of his older brothers. So much so they removed his plaque from the award and threw it out the window on the ride back to Cambridge. That made the award even more special that it angered his older brothers so much. Jeff swam at the YMCA because he loved swimming. One day he was out lapping all the kids on the swim team that were there for practice. Jeff was then recruited to the swim team! In 1971, Jeff went on to compete in the Junior Olympics against Mark Spitz. Jeff lost by 7/100s of a second and came in 7th. Mark Spitz went on to win seven gold medals in the 1972 Olympics and set seven world records to boot!

The family moved to Mesa in 1973. Jeff met Janet Jackson in 1975 and married in 1981. They have three children Anthony, Tracy and Bailey and eight grandchildren, Madison, Kylie, Savannah, Colt, Maizley, Remi, Rhett and Codi. Jeff's services are Friday March 21 at 10am at Queen of Peace Catholic Church. Interment to follow at Mesa City Cemetery.