Denville’s Michele Parkins, Tireless Advocate For Kids, ID’d As Bicyclist Struck, Killed

Michele Parkins, a 46-year-old Denville resident and founder of

Great Kids Place,

was killed on Thursday, July 17, after she was hit by a car while riding her bike, authorities said.

Michele Parkins

The crash occurred on Old Boonton Road near Bush Road, the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office said. Parkins was transported to St. Clare’s Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, authorities said.

Parkins was all about helping others, earning her Master’s degree in occupational therapy from Seton Hall in 2009,

according to her obituary from the Norman Dean Funeral Home website.

She met her husband Kim in 2001 and they were married in 2007, her obituary reads. They would welcome two children, Tyler in 2010 and Fletcher in 2012, all of whom survive her, according to her obituary.

Parkins began her career at Celebrate the Children in Denville and in 2016 founded her occupational therapy practice, Great Kids, growing it to a practice of 15 therapists and building 10 sensory gyms for families to play with, her obituary reads. She later launched a podcast that attracted listeners in more than 50 countries, according to her obituary.

In her free time, Parkins enjoyed running, was a member of her lake waterskiing crew and took her children on vacations to Florida, the Carolinas and California, learning how to waterski and snow ski and going snorkeling, her obituary reads.

Aside from her husband and children, Parkins is survived by her parents, Theresa and Jim, her sister, Jamie, her dogs, Cassie and Daisy, her parents-in-law, Michele and Kim and numerous other family members and friends, according to her obituary,

“She leaves behind a family that adored her and a community that is forever changed because she lived,” her obituary reads. “Michele didn’t just live a life she built a legacy. She changed the way we understand children. She changed the way we show up for each other. She changed the world, one joyful moment at a time.”

Visitation will be held on Thursday, July 24 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Norman Dean Home for Services in Denville. A Celebration of Life will be held on Friday, July 25 at 11 a.m. at Emergence Church in Totowa.

The crash remains under investigation, police said.

To view her obituary, click here.