Obituary of Florence Parker

Florence “Barrie” Parker née Fugate, age 87, died peacefully of complications from Alzheimer’s disease on December 18, 2024, in her family home in Aston, Pennsylvania.

Born February 20, 1937, Barrie was the youngest of three daughters of Paul and Gertrude Fugate. After her mother died (when Barrie was 4) she and her two sisters, Mary Anne and Helen Louise “Weezie” Fugate, moved to Ambler Pennsylvania, where they were raised by their aunt and uncle Ernest and Polly Tietze on a small farm.

After graduating from Ambler High School, she attended Drexel University as a home economics major, graduating with her bachelor’s degree in 1958. In 1961, she married Samuel “Sam” Jackson Parker, III of Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, whom she met at Drexel. In 1963, the couple purchased a house in Aston, Pennsylvania, where Sam continues to live.

Barrie worked as a home economics teacher at Sharon Hill High School until her first child was born in 1966 and was a stay-at-home mom until 1979, when she returned to the classroom part-time as a nursery school teacher.

She began attending St. John's Episcopal Church in Concordville, PA in the early 1960s where she became a devoted and much-loved parishioner who, for many years, oversaw the Sunday School program and directed the altar guild.

She is survived by her husband, Sam, and her four children, Amy Parker of Lynn, Massachusetts, Laura Jane Parker of West Chester, Pennsylvania, Melissa “Mars” Parker of Aston, Pennsylvania, Samuel Jackson Parker, IV of Philadelphia PA, and a granddaughter, Pema Lenz.

A Celebration of Life will take place at St. John's Church in Concordville on Thursday, December 26 at 11:00 AM with a visitation in the Battin Room from 10:00-10:50; a luncheon will follow the service in the Parish Hall.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to St. John’s Episcopal Church in Concordville, PA.