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f someone decided to rename the West Family YMCA & Boise City Aquatic Center to the West Family & Boise City Aquatic Pam Parker Center, no one who works there would bat an eyelash.
In fact, for many folks at the YMCA, the $13.5 million facility off Chinden Boulevard is the house Pam built for the community.
People who knew and loved Parker mourned her passing March 12 after a six-year battle with cancer, saying the Boise area lost a tireless worker who spent most of her 60 years trying to make life better for everyone she knew — whether it was her family or the families of the Treasure Valley.
“She touched us all in so many ways, and her legacy will live on in buildings and programs that would not otherwise exist but for her leadership,” said Jim Everett, CEO of the Treasure Valley YMCA. “She was a treasure in this community. She did a lot of stuff behind the scenes. Some of the people touched by Pam won’t even know that she is the one who made their experience and opportunity possible.”
“Whether it was a special-needs member, a senior citizen, a young staff member or a CEO, Pam had an amazing ability to connect,” he said. “She did so much behind the scenes. ... We’ve all learned so much from Pam.”
The most visible legacy for Parker — who started as a bookkeeper for the YMCA in 1972 and retired as the Y’s executive director and its philanthropy and communications manager in 2003 — is the West Valley YMCA center. Parker directed the $13.5 million campaign to get the center built and allow for the YMCA to better serve the residents of western Boise and surrounding cities such as Meridian, Kuna and Eagle.
It wasn’t just the building, either. Kelli Parker, Pam’s youngest daughter, said her mom worked tirelessly to help figure out what activities would best serve locals, outside of more obvious Y activities like swimming.
“For example, my mom brought in drummers to the Y and had drum circle activities. ... My mom wanted everyone to know there is a place for everyone in the world,” Kelli Parker said.
“My mother had a true belief that everyone deserves a beautiful life. She had enormous energy and used that to help people find out what the beautiful life meant to them and try to help them achieve it.”
The YMCA was just Parker’s first act. After retiring from the Y in 2003, Parker moved on to work with the Nature Conservancy as the director of philanthropy and finally to the Bogus Basin Mountain and Recreation Area as its vice president of development, where she helped the popular ski area grow and evolve as a non-profit corporation.
Parker also spent time volunteering for community services, which included positions as an acting member of the Boise Art Museum Board of Trustees and the Boise Metro Rotary Club, as well as the American Cancer Society State Public Information chairwoman.
Everett said a less obvious but equally important legacy for Parker was as a pioneer for professional women in the Boise area, acting both by example and as a mentor for the current generation of female leaders in the Valley. The Y was a pretty male-dominated organization when Parker joined in the early 1970s, but she was able to help change that paradigm in her professional growth and as a mentor of dozens of other professional women who have since reached positions of leadership in the community.
Some of the awards Parker received included Outstanding Development Executive Award by the Idaho Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the WCA Joyce Stein Award for Pioneering Impact on Growth and Advancement of Women and the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Outstanding Development Executive Award.
Jenifer Johnson, the vice president of development at The Idaho Foodbank who worked with Parker at Bogus Basin, described her as “a truly remarkable woman who made a huge difference in our community.
“She was a quiet hero to many,” Johnson said. “In addition to being a mentor, she was my friend and a kind, sincere, humble and funny woman.
“It can be challenging to find female, peer-to-peer mentors ... she was always so generous with her time and knowledge. She had a way of pointing you in the right direction to figure things out for yourself, and only later did you figure out you were being taught,” Johnson said. “A big part of her legacy is how she helped people figure out how to balance work and family. As much as she did for everyone else, her family was first priority.”
“My mom never, ever made us feel like we were No. 2,” Kelli Parker said. “She had as much energy for her home life as she did for the community, and it was all part of the same thing. I grew up volunteering for community. ... She brought people into our lives, and they became like part of the family.”
Her family, friends and co-workers said they continued to be inspired and moved by Parker’s positive attitude and indomitable spirit despite some pretty tough times after being diagnosed with cancer six years ago.
“(My mom’s death) just leaves an enormous hole in our lives,” Kelli Parker said.
It was during Pam Parker’s memorial service last month that her husband of 42 years, Bruce Parker, had one special request for her army of friends — to be sure to share stories about Pam with her granddaughter, Elsinore, when she gets older.
Pam Parker is survived by her husband, daughters Kelli Parker and Abbie Parker, and their husbands Olivier Chatel and Steve Korol; her granddaughter, Elsinore Korol; sister-in-law Le Kelleher; her parents, Marvin and JoAnn Turner; as well as her siblings Joe Turner, Ival Turner, Pat Petrie and all of their children and grandchildren.
In Remembrance is a weekly profile on a Treasure Valley resident who has recently passed away. To recommend a friend or loved one for an In Remembrance, email newsroom@idahostatesman.com.
Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/04/01/2059089/a-quiet-hero-to-many.html#storylink=cpy
