Los Angeles
County
Biographies
MRS. GRACE B. PARRISH
A
jolly grandmother who believes that people should live up to their convictions,
Mrs. Grace B. Parrish has done just that in a long and productive life of
service to her community.
In
Alhambra, where she has resided since 1922, Mrs. Parrish was co-founder of the
Parent-Teachers’ Association Thrift Shop in 1933 and its manager for
twenty-three years; she is now a life member of its board of directors, and has
served two two-year terms as Chairman of the Board, since 1956. During 1961 she held the office of vice
president. Also the co-founder of the
Alhambra Day Nursery, Mrs. Parrish has been the chairman of its board of
directors since its beginning.
One
of three children of Ira and Mary Ann Barnett, Grace Barnett was born on August
2, 1891, in Galesburg, Illinois, the birthplace of Carl Sandburg and the town
about which Mr. Sandburg wrote his book entitled, “Always the Young Strangers.” A cousin of Mrs. Parrish’s mother was a teacher
of Carl Sandburg; Mrs. Parrish’s great-grandfather, John T. Barnett, was a pioneer
school chum of Abraham Lincoln, and Mr. Lincoln’s lifelong friend.
Mrs.
Parrish attended the country school outside of Galesburg, and after receiving her
high school diploma in Galesburg, she attended Western Illinois State Normal
School, now the State College, and spent two years as a teacher of upper
elementary grades.
Grace
Barnett left teaching to become the bride of Leonard C. Parrish, on December
21, 1911; soon after their marriage, the young couple moved from Galesburg to
Los Angeles. In 1922 they took up
residence in Alhambra where Mr. Parrish, a general builder, was a member of the
California Building Contractors’ Association, as well as its San Gabriel
Chapter, and was a builder of homes in this area.
Mrs.
Parrish, the mother of three girls, began her community service immediately
upon settling in Alhambra, as a member of the Ramona School Parent-Teachers’
Association, and went on to become active in the Alhambra High School
Parent-Teachers’ Association where she served as president from 1931 to 1933,
after which she began her work with the Parent-Teachers’ Association sponsored
Thrift Shop. Mrs. Parrish is a member of
Chapter No. 1 of the Parent-Teachers’ Alumnae Club. This organization is made up of outstanding
PTA leaders of the community. She is a
past president of this club and also holds a life membership in the California
Congress of Parents and Teachers. During
the busy years to follow, Mrs. Parrish was also a member of the Alhambra
Soroptimist Club for ten years and is a past president of that organization.
Mrs.
Parrish’s three daughters are Mrs. Allan M. (Frances Mary) Harris, a San
Gabriel resident who is a graduate of Alhambra High School and Pasadena Junior
College, and the former playground director of Alhambra Schools, the mother of
two children; Mrs. Loren E. (Lorraine) Raymond, who attended the same schools
as her two sisters, is the mother of four children, and who lives in Covina;
and Mrs. Hedley P. (Marian) Atherton, Jr., of Temple City, the mother of three
children.
Mrs.
Parrish, who lives at 728 Sierra Vista, in Alhambra, is a member of the
Alhambra Friends Church.
Even
though she is now a widow—with her nine grandchildren, her active interest in
the PTA Thrift Shop and the Alhambra Day Nursery, the Sierra Vista Club, and
the Alhambra Tuesday Club, of which she is vice president—Mrs. Grace B. Parrish
is not lonely, but busy and happy. Mrs.
Parrish is proud to have been chosen as one of the first recipients of the
Civitan Award for her outstanding and distinguished service to her community.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Historical Volume & Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park,
Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple City, by Robert P. Studer,
Pages 553-555, Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California. 1962.
© 2013 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPHIES