Over the years Dee worked in and managed hair salons at Liberty House in Ala Moana and in downtown Honolulu. She was an office manager for Mr. Ming Ltd., a dentist, a restaurant, an insurance firm and two separate trucking companies. She also worked at Straub Clinic and the former Fronk Clinic.

Dee also created and owned the former Diamond Post feed store in Keaau on the Big Island.

She moved to California for health reasons in the late 1980s, but her heart never left Hawaii and she came home often.

She is survived by her son Charles "Chuck" Parker of Kailua and his wife Patt Sornsin; her son Anthony "Tony" Parker of Mountain View, Big Island; her sister Marie Valentino of Chicago; her grandsons Wade Kekoa Mahiai Parker and Anthony Kapio Parker Jr. of the Big Island and her granddaughter Leeza-Ann Ka`ohinani Parker of the Big Island.