Thursday, October 1, 2026
The sound of laughter, cheers and bats hitting softballs filled the air at Eisenhower Park last Sunday. It was a scene that felt familiar to the family of Lindsey Rose Parke.
But for them, the memorial tournament held in Lindsey’s honor was about more than a game. It was about remembering the kind of person she was and the impact she made.
“It’s kind of like a full-circle moment,” her brother, Timothy Sitzman, said. “Seeing everybody get involved, it shows the type of person she was — always being there to help somebody else.”
Parke, a 19-year-old firefighter from Levittown, died in January, a passenger in a vehicle that crashed on Old Country Road, whose driver, police said, was operating the vehicle recklessly, and was later charged. Her loss shook the community. In the months since, her family, friends and fellow firefighters have worked to ensure that her memory lives on — not only through grief, but through action.
The outpouring of support, they say, mirrors the way she lived. “She never hesitated to help anyone,” her sister, Haley Parke, said. “So the fact that no one else hesitates to do for her now — that’s exactly who she was.”
For Lindsey, helping wasn’t just a habit — it was a personality trait. There were the everyday moments, like working with children at camp, where she would proudly tell her family about kids calling her “Dr. Lindsey” after she put bandages on their scrapes.
“She’d come home and say, ‘They’re calling me Dr. Lindsey, Mom,’” her mother, Annette Sitzman Parke, recalled. “She loved that — just helping them with a little Band-Aid and making them feel better.”
And then there were the moments that showed just how instinctive that drive was. In one instance, after a car flipped near her home, Lindsey ran toward the wreckage and helped pull a man from the vehicle.
“She pulled him out,” her sister said. “She was always the first one there. Always there to help somebody.”
Even before she joined the Levittown Fire Department, that instinct defined her. She became a Cadet at age 15. Once she earned her EMT certification and officially became a member of Ladder Company 6, that desire only grew stronger.
“She just couldn’t not help,” her sister said. “It takes a lot to jump into a situation that’s already bad, and she didn’t hesitate.”
Her best friend, Ryan McFarland, whom she met as a fellow Cadet, saw that same determination firsthand. “Lindsey was an unstoppable human being,” McFarland said. “Nothing stopped her. Nothing.”
At the firehouse, he said, she stood out not just for her drive, but for how she treated others. “She was the type of person to always help the new guy,” McFarland said. “There was nothing that girl couldn’t do.”
Aside from emergencies, she made an impact in quieter ways — in routines, friendships and small traditions that now carry new meaning.
“We were simple,” McFarland said. “Every single day started with a strawberry refresher from Dunkin’ Donuts. That was our thing.”
Over time, they became inseparable. “We became more like brother and sister,” he said. “She gave me that push I needed in life. Lindsey made me into the person I am today.”
At home, her energy was just as constant.
“Full of energy … fun and light-spirited. Always laughing,” her mother said. “I don’t think she was ever miserable.”
Lindsey loved to bake cupcakes and decorate for holidays months in advance. She spent hours creating handmade gifts with decorative rhinestone embroidery. One of her most treasured pieces was a fully bedazzled Islanders jersey that she hand-crafted over the course of several days.
“She made everything special, and added her sparkle to everything,” her mother said. “Your birthday was a whole month. There’d be balloons everywhere.”
More than anything, Lindsey brought people together. “She’d say, ‘Let’s carve pumpkins’ or ‘Let’s make gingerbread houses,’” Sitzman Parke said. “She was the life. She was the fun. She was the glue of our family.”
That spirit is what her family is now trying to carry forward. Last weekend’s softball tournament was one of several efforts tied to a foundation they are building in her name, focused on helping others — just as she did.
“We don’t want her to ever be forgotten,” her sister said. “We want to continue to help in her name and make a positive impact on the community.”
But for her family and friends, the hardest moments come after the crowds leave. “After everything quiets down, it’s the loudest silence you’ll ever hear,” her brother said. “It’s a gut-punching, empty feeling.”
They described the loss not in milestones, but in the small, everyday absences. “It’s the little things,” Sitzman said. “Telling me to get my laundry out. Telling me to stop eating while she’s cooking. It’s everything.”
“It’s picking up your phone to text her and realizing you’re not going to get an answer back,” her sister added.
For McFarland, that absence is constant. “I’m still looking to see her car pull up,” he said. “I miss my best friend. I need my best friend. I’m lost without her.”
Still, Lindsey Rose’s family and friends say that continuing her legacy is what she would have wanted.
“It’s the least we can do for her when she’s done so much for us in just 19 years,” her mother said. They hope the community remembers not just how she died, but how she lived — through the small, meaningful acts that defined her.
“Effort goes a long way,” her brother said. “She put effort into everything and everyone.”
“I feel like people die twice — when they actually die and when you stop talking about them,” her sister said. “So we’re going to keep talking about her so that her spirit can live on.”
