Our Namesake

     Our School was named after Robert Curtis Parker.  Our school is dedicated to his ideals.

        Robert Curtis Parker was a man who believed in many things, one of them being that a person should be pushed to his or her extreme limit.  This, he believed, would make that person the best he or she could be.

        Mr. Parker was born July 28,1938, in Boston, MA.  He was the son of John A. and Jane Curtis Parker of Chapel Hill, NC.  He spent his early years in Groton, MA.

         Mr. Parker was a student of Groton School, graduating in 1957.  In 1961, he recieved his B. A. degree from the University of North Carolina.  There, he also majored in English Literature, and was a member of Saint Anthony Hall.  In 1968, Mr. Parker recieved his M. A. degree in English from the Breadloaf School in Middleburry College.

          Robert C. Parker's life long teaching career started at Brooks School in Andover, MA.  From 1961 through 1964, he taught English and coached varsity rowing.

          From 1964 until 1979, Mr. Parker taught at Groton School where he was chairman of the English Department, coached the women's crew, and taught in the Groton Upward Bound Program.  Mr. Parker came to Emma Willard School as Principal in 1979.  He served as a trustee of the New York State Association of Independent Schools.  He died on September 15, 1986,  after a yearlong battle with lymphoma.

          Robert C. Parker had great ideas about giving all equal education.  Because we share in his ideas and beliefs, we named this middle school in his honor- the Robert C. Parker School.

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