{"id":1712,"date":"2021-12-30T03:35:31","date_gmt":"2021-12-30T03:35:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aroadkillopera.com\/test\/?p=1712"},"modified":"2021-12-30T03:35:31","modified_gmt":"2021-12-30T03:35:31","slug":"obituary-elaine-parker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aroadkillopera.com\/test\/2021\/12\/30\/obituary-elaine-parker\/","title":{"rendered":"Obituary – Elaine Parker"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Elaine Parker, pictured here on the beach in a black and white windbreaker suit and sporting a red umbrella like a tightrope walker dancing atop the wire, passed away peacefully at home on October 8, 2021, surrounded by her loving family.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Nashville, TN \u2013 Elaine Parker, age 91 of Nashville, passed away at home surrounded by her loving family on October 8, 2021.<\/p>\n

Elaine would tell you that she had two great influences: Frank Laubach, who developed the “Each One Teach One” literacy program, and Helen Keller. “Do not let this go to waste” were the words that Helen Keller said to Elaine at her graduation ceremony, when Keller was presented as the first woman to receive an honorary degree<\/a> and Elaine was the first woman to receive an advanced degree in teaching the blind from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This is an abbreviated version of a very full life. Newspaper clippings have been added to the text published in October 2021 in The Tennessean.<\/p>\n

\"HelenHelen Keller at Harvard Commencement – Page 1, <\/strong>16 Jun 1955, Thu The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts)<\/em> Newspapers.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Elaine Marilyn (Goldman) Parker, was born August 6, 1930, in Boston, Massachusetts, daughter of Maurice Goldman (a state Senator in Massachusetts) and Helen Stepansky Goldman Perlman. Elaine was brought up in Boston, where she attended the Boston Latin School. She graduated from Drew Seminary for Young Women in Carmel, New York, where she studied piano and was active in theater.<\/p>\n

One of Elaine’s earliest memories was volunteering with her Hungarian-born grandmother in cooking for\u2014and writing to\u2014World War Two servicemen through the Red Cross. Elaine later volunteered with the Boston Veterans Hospital and the New York Lighthouse for the Blind\u2014experiences that contributed to her interest in working with people with vision disabilities.<\/p>\n

Elaine first earned a Boston University School of Education degree in Special Education and Counseling, before going on to Harvard. A woman of many interests and passions, she began the first of her many careers teaching in public schools in Waltham and Brookline, Massachusetts. Later, she moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where she taught special education at the Daniel Arthur Rehabilitation School. At the same time, she developed and implemented an adult education program for the blind, founded a Recording for the Blind Program in Oak Ridge, and organized volunteers to bring Talking Books to blind families in the mountains of East Tennessee. Elaine was appointed Chairperson for the East Tennessee Employment of the Handicapped Program created under Governor Frank Clement. In this position, she visited numerous factories and businesses to encourage them to employ people who were blind and people with disabilities.<\/p>\n