Gretchen Joan Parks

Gretchen Joan Parks, a former photo editor of Cosmopolitan magazine and a cabaret dancer, died at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital following a heart attack on Sept. 28. She was 84, and had heart disease, her family said. 

“A feminist from early on, accentuated by her work at Cosmo, Gretchen was always curious about everything and saw the world through an artistic eye,” a son, Tristan Parks Bourne, said. She became the photo editor in the 1970s, at a time when Helen Gurley Brown was transforming the magazine into one for modern single women, and Ms. Parks relished being part of it, he said. 

She was born on May 24, 1934, in Los Angeles. Her parents, William Caldwell Parks and the former Frieda Rose Niller, worked for the Al G. Barnes Circus, her father as a ticket man, her mother as a bareback rider. She grew up in Redwood City, Calif., and set out on her own at 15. Settling in Las Vegas,  she worked as a dancer before moving to Chicago. There, she was one of a group known as the Chez Paree Adorables. She also worked as a dancer on television before becoming a photo assistant to Dan Wynn at Cosmo. 

While in California on a photo shoot with Mr. Wynn, she met Mel Bourne, who would become an Academy Award-nominated production designer. They were married in the early 1960s, a marriage that lasted until Mr. Bourne’s death in 2002.

It was also through Mr. Wynn, who had a house in Springs, that the couple came to buy a house on Gerard Drive. She moved to Springs full time from Riverside Drive in Manhattan after her retirement in 1986. She most recently lived on 9th Street in the hamlet.  

While she collected no formal accolades, her sons called her the “best ski mom” and remembered her for the love and attention she gave her children. “Her eccentricity blossomed toward the end of her career and continued while living on the East End,” her family said. 

In addition to Tristan Bourne of Los Angeles, she is survived by her sons Timothy Bourne of Wilmington, N.C., and Travis Bourne of East Hampton, 

as well as a granddaughter, Kasarah Bourne Weinfeld of Chicago, whom she raised. Seven other grandchildren and two great-grandchildren also survive.

A memorial service will be held in New York City in the spring. The family has said anyone with stories about her or who would like further information about the memorial can send an email to [email protected].

Her ashes will be spread on Gardiner’s Bay and in the Mojave Desert.