Eugenia H. Parker

Eugenia Parker (Mary Eugenia Horne Parker) died of natural causes on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2015, after a long and joyful life. Eugenia was born on Dec. 15, 1931, in Minneapolis, Minn., daughter of Eugenie Reinke and Paul Staffeld. She attended kindergarten and grades 1 through 5 in St. Paul and then moved to Chicago with her mother, brother, and stepfather, Stewart Horne, where she attended the University of Chicago Laboratory School. In 1946 the family spent six months traveling in Mexico and then returned to the United States and lived a short stint in Mississippi. Eugenia graduated in 1953 with honors from the University of Miami, with degrees in History and Russian studies. She received a Rotary Foundation Fellowship to continue her graduate studies in London. Eugenia returned from London in 1955 and was accepted to Harvard Medical School in 1956. At Harvard she met and married Victor Horace Parker and they had four children. Eugenia completed her pathology residency at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland. She was a dedicated pathologist for the Veterans Administration for ten years in Cleveland, Dallas and St. Louis, while raising her four children as a single parent. Eugenia returned to the north woods in 1975 to work for Memorial Medical Center in Ashland, Wis., for ten years. After her children completed college she decided to fulfill her dream of working and living in the developing world. Eugenia lived for two years in Montego Bay, Jamaica working at the Cornwall Regional Hospital. Then she lived two years in Managua, Nicaragua working at the Children’s Hospital for the Sandanistan government. Eugenia retired among the Kekchi Indians of the Guatemalan Highlands where she lived from 1990 to 1996, when she returned to her family in the United States. In Madison, she lived at Romnes Apartment where she coordinated the Food Fair Program and was active in democratic party politics. Eugenia had the rare combination of a brilliant mind, a deep sense of social justice and the courage to live by her convictions. She was loved by all who knew her. Eugenia will be missed and remembered by her three sons, Duncan Parker of Pasadena, Gregory Parker of Madison, and Carl Parker of Seattle; her daughter Victoria (Michel) Wattiaux of Madison; her two grandchildren, Jeremy Parker and Aimee Wattiaux; her brother, Gregory (Carol) Horne of Cape Cod; and their two children, Melinda (deceased) and Craig (Mary) Horne; and their three daughters: Elizabeth, Melinda, and Sara. She will also be missed by her many friends at Romnes Appartment and at Avalon Assisted Living. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Eugenia’s memory to UNICEF, U.S. Fund for Unicef, 125 Maiden Ln., Floor 11, New York, NY 10273-0848