It could have been a scene right out of the 1939 movie classic, Gone with the Wind. But for Darlene聽Parker, president of the tenants association at 91看片 Douglas Homes for the past 16 years, it was a real-life drama that actually sparked her interest in a nursing career. 鈥淚 delivered my sister鈥檚 ?rst baby. I had seen babies born before,鈥� explained Parker, a retired R.N. who was 12-years-old when she ushered her then 11-year-old sister鈥檚 baby into the world as a child growing up in Conway, S.C.
That baby, whom Parker helped raise, along with her sister鈥檚 ?ve other children and her own two biological children, is now 52 years old and doing ?ne. 聽Jasminee Sawh-Ramroop, the care coordinator at Douglas Homes who works for NCC Social Services, said Parker is today a true 鈥渁dvocate鈥� for residents of her 15-story apartment building located on Hill 聽Street in Newark. 聽鈥淚f a resident is facing a problem, Ms. Parker always tries to resolve the problem by working with Social聽Services and Management,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 still cooking for different affairs in my building. I visit the sick and pray for them. I love people,鈥� added Parker, 67, who has lived at Douglas for the past 20 years and has also helped tend a vegetable garden behind the building. 聽As a member of NCC鈥檚 Senior Advisory Council, Parker joins tenant leaders monthly from NCC鈥檚 eight senior buildings and family properties in Newark, Orange and Jersey City for a monthly meeting with NCC founder and board chair, Monsignor William J. Linder, and board member Madge Wilson. 鈥淭hese meetings are important,鈥� said Parker, an Eastern Star and member of Newark鈥檚 First Hopewell Baptist Church. 鈥淲e go there and discuss with Father Linder what our buildings might need and he and Ms. Wilson respond.鈥� One of Parker鈥檚 most vivid lifetime memories is participating in the 1963 March on Washington, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his 鈥淚 have a Dream鈥� speech. 鈥淥h my Lord, it was happiness and delight鈥 day I will never forget,鈥� she said
