But her prayers weren't answered. Her son was fatally shot that night on his way from coaching a youth basketball game at nearby Audenried High School.
Parks was walking down the street with his 9-year-old nephew and two boys - ages 13 and 14 - who belonged to the basketball league that Parks coached, said Homicide Lt. Philip Riehl.
Parks and the two teens had gotten into a fight earlier in the day with a group of young men at 29th and Dickinson streets.
"Apparently there was some physical altercation, and they were run out of that area," Riehl said.
Parks was left scared from the encounter - scared enough to be carrying a .32-caliber semiautomatic handgun when he was gunned down.
"Apparently he was fearful," Riehl said.
The drive-by shooting that claimed Parks' life nearly turned into a triple tragedy, Riehl said. Bullets ripped through both of the teens' clothing, barely missing their flesh.
A family friend, who lives near Parks' house but didn't want to be named, said that Parks had borrowed the gun he was carrying from a friend because he had been spooked by the fight.
He noted that Parks generally stayed out of trouble but hung out with people who had less-ambitious plans in life.
"He just got caught up in a bad situation," said the friend, 29. "By him carrying, it gave him a false sense of security in a territory he normally wouldn't walk around."
That sentiment is indicative of what Riehl called "a South Philly problem."
"Every year, it's a different corner, but nobody wants to help," he said.
Williams could attest to that.
She hadn't quite gotten used to life without eldest son, Dwayne, who was 18 when he was shot dead during a dispute at 33rd and Reed streets in 2002.
