Evelyn Parker

Evelyn Williams, affectionately known as “Bug” and “Evy,” was born on August 9, 1934, in Portsmouth Virginia to the late Lenell Williams and the late Leroy Fisher. When she was six, Evelyn was sent to Pittsburgh PA to live with her Great Aunt, Lucress Baker, who domiciled in Bloomfield and eventually moved to Junilla Street in the city’s Hill District neighborhood. A witty but shy girl, she attended Vann Elementary, Herron Hill Middle and Schenley High School where she was a model student, played volleyball and graduated with honors. She was a member of Macedonia Baptist Church and sang in the choir, with who would become her lifelong best friend and play sister Gloria Burns. Following high school, she found her calling in taking care of others and worked as a nurse's aide at Shadyside Hospital before receiving her RN degree from the West Penn School of Nursing in August 1957, where she met her next best lifelong friend Wilhelmina Crable.

In 1969 she married Thomas J. Parker who had three children (Cheryl, Tom, and Robin) added to her one (Ralph) that then became four. Tom and Evelyn would later welcome Tim and Lance to the Parker household. As a working mom, her sons were always her top priority. She was a constant presence in their lives, attending school events, little league baseball games and football games (even if she didn’t understand the rules). When it came to school, she never missed a parent teacher conference and always made sure all homework was completed correctly before anyone could go out and play. If the boys stayed out too late after the streetlights buzzed and flickered on, she would walk up to their hangout spot in the park with her arms folded, left over right and a slight sigh telling them “It’s time to come home. I have to be to work in the morning." She was stern but never fussed.

Evelyn liked to swim and was an avid bowler, with her own equipment. She was a skater and would take her sons along to attend Saturday morning roller skating classes at the Coliseum in Homewood. She enjoyed watching scary movies on Chiller Theatre, 11:30 PM EST sharp, with host Bill “Chilly” Cardille, and eating “White House” ice cream from Islay’s Ice Cream Shop. She liked good music and loved to dance, even in her eighties she could dance all night and get low and bring it back up – there’s video footage to prove it. She had a hat collection that boasted pillboxes, cloches, Cossacks, Cowboy, and French berets, and she use to rock everyone. But more than anything, Scrabble was her superpower. She was an expert player, that kept two boards and two scrabble dictionaries in her trunk just in case a game broke out. Her friends remember her as terribly competitive but fun to play against even if they would lose to her time and time again. She was recognized and awarded the rank of Expert Scrabble Player by the National Scrabble Association’s Club #501 for 50 wins in Scrabble Game Competition, and she carried that spirit of excellence in everything she did.

Impeccably dressed and starched for work each day in all white – shoes, stockings, skirt, blouse, and hat with a gold and blue nursing pin attached at the chest , she was always on time and rarely absent and will be remembered for her outstanding professionalism. Respected by physicians and her peers she was an Assistant ICU Head Nurse who was unselfish and disciplined in mentoring subordinates. Later in her career she took a job closer to home at Western Restoration Center, so close, she would walk to and from work most days. After developing many friendships and caring for patients for more than 40 years, she retired from Mayview State Hospital and relocated to Bowie, MD where she became very active in the South Bowie Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses. She enjoyed attending services, the friendships made and support provided.

Evelyn loved her role as Nana and spent as much time with her grandchildren as she could. She always made time for homework, after school pick up, piano recitals, dance performances, movie nights, game night, date nights, school assemblies, graduations, grandparents’ day, sporting events, you name it, Evelyn was there to support her grandchildren and offer them advice. Grandparents are important in the lives of children, and she loved them, and they loved her. Her departure will leave an unfillable void.

After a lengthy illness with Alzheimer's Disease, Evelyn transitioned peacefully on November 16, 2022. She was preceded in death by her parents Lenell Williams and Leroy Fisher, her sister Gertrude “Tootsie” Williams and her husband Thomas J. Parker. She is survived by six children, Cheryl Blake, Thomas Parker, Robin Myers, Ralph Parker, Timothy Parker, and Lance Parker. Daughter-in-laws, Ruth Parker, Toya Evans and Joy Parker, and son-in-law Robert Myers. She is also survived by nine grandchildren Dawn Husdon, Niki Loper, Brian Parker, Meghan Parker, Sydney Parker, Savannah Parker, Satchel Parker, Darius Parker, and Marcus Parker and three great grandchildren Destiny Parker-Wilson, Diamond Parker-Wilson, and Desmond Parker-Wilson and many other close friends and family.