SRJC student, 18, killed on Occidental Road ‘wanted peace and serenity for everybody’

An 18-year-old Santa Rosa Junior College student killed in a car wreck on Occidental Road Monday was planning to study psychology so she could counsel troubled youth, her mother said Tuesday.

Mallory Parker was killed instantly in the 2:15 p.m. crash when she struck a parked tree- trimming truck, which then hit Javier Lopez, 22, of Alamo, Texas, an employee of the tree-?trimming company, according to CHP. Officers are investigating reports Parker was speeding faster than the 50 mph limit before she lost control of the Saturn she was driving.

Lopez was taken by ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, according to the CHP. Lopez wasn’t listed as a patient Tuesday and so may have been treated for injuries and released.

Parker’s mother, Natasha Parker, said her daughter had a troubled childhood, but had refocused her life and worked two jobs while attending the junior college.

“I don’t know many 18-year-olds that have a full-time schedule at a junior college and two full-time jobs,” Parker said. “She really straightened up. She was trying to be a responsible adult.”

Mallory had gotten into legal trouble as a young teenager and spent 18 months at Koinonia Family Center, a foster care center in Loomis near Sacramento, Parker said. After leaving the center, she stayed in touch with other teens from the center and often would return to Loomis to support her friends who still lived there, Parker said.

“She would have helped anybody. Anybody,” Parker said. “She just wanted peace and serenity for everybody, and for everybody to understand and be there for each other.”

Mallory was close to her two older siblings, Kyle, 23, and Mercedes, 20, and doted on her younger brother, Calvin, 12, who lived at his godmother’s house. Mallory often would visit him there and take him on activities like visiting the pumpkin patch.

Mallory always wanted a family, and after a series of abusive relationships with men, she had recently found a girlfriend and dreamed of adopting a child with her, Parker said. She lavished attention on her long-haired chihuahua, Hennessy, a rescue dog.

Her mother said she decided to study psychology because she felt alone as a child and wanted to help kids in the same situation.

“It was that or marine biology, but she decided she wanted to make a difference for kids more than she wanted to make a difference for animals,” Parker said.

Parker said Mallory was planning to take a trip to Death Valley over the weekend because she wanted to see the stars, and would have returned Monday night. Unfortunately, she decided not to go because she had to work.

“If she’d have gone, this wouldn’t have happened,” Parker said. “I don’t know anything about the afterlife but I’m hoping it’s everything she’s ever wanted. … I’m hoping that she’s seeing the stars she wanted to see.”