BY LINDA DeNICOLA
Staff Writer
About 300 people crowded the Earth Room of the Unitarian Universal-ist Congregation of Monmouth County (UUCMC) in Lincroft on April 13 to celebrate the life of Dr. James Alvin “Moose” Parker Sr., who died Feb. 3 at the age of 87.
The memorial service was attended by family, friends, neighbors, Rotary Club members, fraternity brothers and many members of the Lincroft congregation of which Moose Parker was a longtime and very active member.
Facing those assembled was a large photograph of Moose as a handsome young Army Dental Corps captain in 1946.
“That’s what he looked like when I met him. You can see why I fell in love with him,” said Margaret, his wife of 49 years, after the memorial service.
The service reflected the life of the Red Bank dentist, a determined humanitarian and storyteller who loved the same woman for almost 50 years and was true to his ideals for all of his life. He was passionate about his five children and numerous grandchildren, his alma mater, his religious congregation, his music, sports and his animals.
Parker was remembered for his total lack of pretense, his joy and expertise in recounting a good story, his love of athletics, especially boxing, football and wrestling, his love of international travel and his interest in animals, including the pedigree German shepherds he trained and showed.
The Rev. Kathleen Hepler said those in attendance were gathered together to weave a tapestry of memories.
She began the memory sharing by saying that Moose was full of wisdom and jokes, and the courage to share them. That struck a cord with someone in the audience whose laughter broke the somber hold that the occasion seemed to require.
Hepler added that Moose was also committed to the causes he believed in.
“He had a good mind, and he used it. When he was in a room, you knew it. The world is a better place because he lived.”
Moose Parker attended Lincoln University in 1938 and while he was there joined the men’s Glee Club as a baritone soloist. He was inducted into Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, was a member of the university staff and a member of the drama club. He was also a member of the varsity football team and went on to become the CIAA Light Heavyweight Wrestling Champion.
He graduated in 1942 and matriculated at Howard University Dental School, graduating in 1946. That’s where he met Margaret Bowles, of St. Louis, Mo., who went on to get a doctorate in education at Rutgers, and to teach history at Brookdale Community College.
Margaret remembers the day they met.
“When the war started, they took the men off the campus. The Army Specialized Training Program was created to enlist men in medical, dental and engineering school. That’s how Moose wound up in the army for two years.”
Eventually, the men came back. She said one day a friend asked her to come to the cafeteria to meet some young men.
“Moose was sitting there. He had a stiff neck, so when he turned to me, he turned his whole body. I fell in love with his looks before I got to know him.”
She said that Moose was a rascal and her father, who was the dean of a law school in St. Louis, wasn’t sure she should marry him.
“But eventually Moose won him over.”
They married in September 1946 while Moose was in the army and lived in Fort Lee, Va., for a while, but Moose had an uncle and cousin who lived in Red Bank and he had visited them.
“He liked Red Bank and he loved his uncle and cousin. He had family here so we moved to Shrewsbury Avenue and lived for 50 years in an old house that was built in 1880. We restored the house and eventually added a large addition on the back,” Margaret said, adding that Moose had a dental office in the house.
“He worked from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.,” she added.
Margaret worked at the community college for 20 years, during which time she started the African American studies and the black literature programs.
During the memorial service, Dr. Leonard Bethel shared his recollections of Moose. A Presbyterian minister, he, too, went to Lincoln University, but many years after Moose. He said they were both Lincoln men at a time when the school was all male. Lincoln is coed now. “He loved Lincoln. We had a brotherhood,” Bethel said.
He said Moose loved to tell football and wrestling stories.
“He had many stories to tell,” he said, adding that Moose wasn’t just interested in athletics, he was interested in race and social progress. “He was not only a proud African American, he was an American and a citizen of the world,” Bethel said.
Roshan Chadda, a member of the UUCMC congregation and a friend for 40 years, said Moose was very conscious of how America’s history shaped his life.
“He was dedicated to bringing about change. He always felt we have a long way to go.”
Margaret explained how they came to become active members of a congregation with very few black members. It was 1963, and they were very active in the NAACP. In fact, they had started the Red Bank area chapter. She said that in August the NAACP provided seven buses for people to take to the civil rights march in Washington, D.C.
“I looked around that morning. The buses were filled with Unitarians. I thought, I have to check out these people.”
She went to a Sunday service and fell in love with Howard Dean (the minister) and his wife, Liz.
“It opened a new door in my consciousness. St. Louis was a segregated town and Howard was really a black institution, so this was new to me.”
She said that Moose became very involved in the church too.
“He was always searching.”
Moose was a member of the Red Bank Rotary Club since 1960. Hepler said he once asked her to speak to the club.
She asked, “What about?”
“Anything that will shake them up,” he responded.
Hepler explained that when Moose joined the Rotary in 1960, the club did not want him or any other nonwhites, but he kept attending the meetings and eventually won them over with the force of his personality and his deeds.
“Moose just grew on the club. He became the Jackie Robinson of Rotary clubs in New Jersey and became the 52nd president and the Paul Harris Fellow, one of the highest honors.”
Moose’s and Margaret’s son, James A. Parker Jr., said at the service that he was called by many names when he was a child: Moosey, Moose Jr., Little Moose.
“My parents raised five children in an unjust society, but they felt it was important to educate their children. He encouraged academics in every young person who ventured into his office. You got a drilling and a lecture. Even his dogs had to have degrees,” the younger Parker said, adding that his father preached the importance of making something of yourself.
Moose was born in Ocala, Fla., and after the death of his mother, he and his sister lived with their maternal grandparents in Ocala, until Moose turned 15 and moved to New York City to live with a stepmother and a father he had never known.
“His story is one of survival, iron will, persistence, discipline and sacrifice. He was a fighter,” his son said. “Our father was a good and honorable man. The family will be rededicated to his values.”
Many people stood up to add to the tapestry of memories. One man said that Moose, as his dentist, would say to him, “Be true to your teeth or they’ll be false to you.”
Silas Richardson said Moose loved a good joke and liked to scare him. One night when he was baby-sitting for the Parker children, he fell asleep. When Moose came home and saw him sleeping, he jumped on him, scaring him to death. The next time Richardson baby-sat, he played a trick on Moose. He made it look like a body was sleeping on the couch, but when Moose jumped on it, the young man jumped on Moose’s back, scaring him to death.
Camille Hayes, his youngest grandchild, read a poem dedicated to her grandfather, as did a woman in the audience and two light baritones raised their voices in beautiful and moving spirituals.
Moose was a man for all seasons and was honored by many clubs, organizations and Lincoln University, which honored him twice, the last time was in 2001 when he was given an Honorary Doctorate of Science.
According to Margaret, he was devoted to the school and missed only one commencement in 60 years. He told her that although they were very poor as students there and had to borrow clothes from each other, those were among the best years of his life.
Moose, who received the Brotherhood Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews in 1986, was honored by the Red Bank Area NAACP and the Ministerial Alliance. He also lived to see a portion of West Bergen Place renamed Drs. James Parker Blvd., an honor he shared with his uncle, Dr. James W. Parker Sr., and his cousin, Dr. James W. Parker Jr., both of whom practiced medicine in Red Bank for 50 years.
In 2002, the Parkers moved to Ocala where Moose had a couple of relatives, and near two of the couple’s children now live. “We had a good life,” Margaret said. “We traveled all over the world together: Africa, Egypt twice, South Africa, South America, Mexico, Brazil, Moscow and St. Petersburg, England, France and many islands.
She added, “We have a wonderful family.”