From the Memoirs of One of the University of Iowa's Oldest Alumni...Lloyd Parker (BA '28)

Parker, 1928

This year I'm set to celebrate a big birthday-I'll be 100 years old on September 16. It's hard to believe so much time has passed.

One day early in September 1922, I walked home from the grocery store with a high school classmate who was leaving the next day to enter The University of Iowa. He suggested I go too, but I just didn't have the funds to attend college. He suggested I borrow money, and to my surprise the banker lent it to me. So, the next day, we both enrolled. Imagine going to college for four years on a budget of $1,000.

I considered myself a fair baseball player and decided to try out for The University of Iowa's team. But to my amazement, I found out I had been declared ineligible for all sports in Big 10 schools.

Parker (center) coaches the Donnan, Iowa baseball team, 1930..

You see, during the summers of 1923-25, I played catcher on the Hawkeye (Iowa) town team. We won the Little Eight League championships and simply divided the game profits among the players, which somehow made me a "professional."

Upon graduating, I took a good job as a teacher and principal at a small school in Donnan, Iowa , and was paid $75 a month for the honor. There were three teachers for all 10 grades. But I still dreamed of making baseball my career, so after a year I resigned from my position and signed a baseball contract with the Iowa City Red Caps.

After three weeks, the superintendent of schools in Groton, South Dakota, telephoned to say he was at the University looking for a special high school teacher. After looking over my credentials, he decided I was the one he'd like to hire.

So, I went on to Groton, where summers I played and managed the adult baseball team, and during the school year I taught math, coached baseball, and served as principal. I enjoyed teaching very much. School days flew by.

One of the new teachers at Groton was a pleasant, attractive blond, Nina Sletten. Once I got up the nerve, we began to see one another regularly. Just prior to the date for finalizing our teaching contracts for the coming year, I asked Nina if she was going to sign her contact. She said, "Do you want me to sign?" I'm certain my answer was as follows, "No, my dear, no." I guess that's how we proposed marriage to each other. In those days, the school board's policy was only one member of a family would be offered a teaching contract. Nina did not sign. It was her way of saying, "I'm getting married."

Together we moved to Northville, South Dakota, in 1931, where I became superintendent of Northwestern High School built to accommodate 30 students-but housed over 75 students with only three teachers. We made do.

The decade of dust storms in the 1930s hit us hard, and no one can imagine how severe these storms were unless he or she lived through them. The wind broke out windows. I shoveled dust off our porch and school was closed for a week to vacuum all the books, desks, and floors. But despite all that, it was the little things that kept us going: each other and the morale we all felt when it came to community activities like the girls' choir and our local sports teams.

As for sports teams, at Northwestern we worked hard and won our first state baseball championship the first year I was head coach, an honor of which I remain very proud to this day.

Lloyd Parker with his niece, Joyce Zorick (BA '58/MA '61), 2002

In my educational career I have felt blessed with the chance to pursue my twin professional passions: coaching, or running a sports team; and being the principal, or coaching the teamwork that goes into every successful school day.

January 5, 1991, was a very special day for Nina and me as we were guests of honor at a Northwestern High School basketball game. The day had been designated Lloyd Parker Day. We felt honored when, just before the game started, the entire team approached us where we were sitting, shook our hands, and congratulated us. During halftime, the cheerleaders did the same. Many of the team members and some of the cheerleaders were grandchildren of my students.

An article in the Aberdeen News said, "One man's achievements and successes are measured by the fond and lasting memories that follow him through life. The honorarium for the Parkers said it so well."

I look forward to turning 100 years old, and I can't help but look back on that day when my high school friend challenged me to enroll in college. What are the odds I'd turn out to be one of The University of Iowa's oldest alumni?

Lloyd Parker is retired and currently lives in Oakes, North Dakota.