When you’ve lived as long and rich a life as Illinois Blakely Parker has, you deserve a big birthday bash.
That’s exactly what Parker got on Feb. 15, when dozens upon dozens of family members came together to throw her a surprise party at the Hilton Garden Inn in Lakeland.
“It’s such a blessing to have her here,” granddaughter Shana Hayes said. “She’s still very much with it. She knows every event. She still watches the news. She knows who the President is. She knows all her grandchildren and everyone. She can hold a conversation with you and she’s in great mental health.”
Parker was born Feb. 20, 1920 in Georgia and lived there until 1949, when she moved in Plant City. She started working at Lakeland General Hospital in 1962 and spent more than 20 years at the hospital until her retirement, but her passion for that work never wavered: after she retired from the Lakeland hospital, Parker went to South Florida Baptist Hospital and joined its crew of “pink lady” volunteers.
Faith has always been a major part of Parker’s life and she spent many years helping the church give back to the community. When she attended St. Mary’s Community Church, she lent countless hours of her time to help the church feed homeless and otherwise food insecure people in the area. She now attends Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, which is much closer to her home.
Parker’s life advice for everyone is to “always do your best and always do the right thing,” and her many years of service in the community are proof she practices what she preaches.
“Treat everybody like you want to be treated,” grandson Dewayne Simpson said. “She instilled that in our brains all the time. Go to church, respect people, she taught us all that. She was Big Mama. She brought everybody together and she’s still doing it. I love her to death.”
Parker and her husband, David, did everything they could to make sure their five children grew up in a stable, loving home and didn’t have to worry about food, which often came from the Parkers working in fruit and vegetable fields. When they weren’t working and had some free time, they loved to go fishing together and did so until David’s passing in 1985.
The family eventually grew to be very big — she now has 19 grandchildren, 40 great-grandchildren, 70 great-great grandchildren and one great-great-great grandchild — but every single child who grew up in or visited the shotgun-style house on Alabama Street over the years knows “Grandma” or “Granny” loves them as much as they love her.
“I’ve always known to come to Grandma’s house,” Pernell Parker said. “It was like an old wives’ tale where, after my grandfather passed, a male would have to walk through the house on the first of the year. A young male. Every time, no matter where I was, I’d come to her house and be the first male to walk through her house every year after my grandfather passed in 1985.”
Just about everyone who shared stories about growing up with Parker had one thing in common: they’ve all tried to break the rules playing outside or inside, and they’ve all managed to get caught even when they thought they wouldn’t. Whether it took the whole village to raise the children or she actually did have the superpower to see everything, Parker’s watchful eye was well-respected in the neighborhood.
“She had eyes in the side of her head,” Simpson said. “She might not tell you she’d seen it, but she seen it for sure. That woman knew everything you did. When we were growing up, everybody in the neighborhood looked out for each other, so she knew about everything we did.”
Parker and her family members celebrated her 100th birthday a few days early with good food and a round of great stories about her impact on their lives. The three-minute time limit for each speaker might have been more of a recommendation than a rule in some cases, but laughter and cheering filled the hotel’s banquet room every time.
Even the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners celebrated Parker’s special day. The board issued a commendation celebrating her life and impact in the community.
“The Board of County Commissioners of Hillsborough County, Florida does hereby commend Illinois Blakely Parker for a wonderful life filled with love and compassion, and wishes her a very happy 100th birthday,” it read.