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Person

Bea Parker

Also Bea Parker

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypePerson
WithinBeaver Island
ErasModern era
On this page
Person
Active
fl. 1974
Work
Secretary, Beaver Island Civic Association
Member of
Beaver Island Civic Association
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
governancecommunity
Within
Beaver Island

Summary

Bea Parker served the Beaver Island Civic Association’s governing board across at least three years in the mid-1970s — as secretary in February 1974 and again after the January 1975 election, and as treasurer by March 1976 — and managed the volunteer breakfast crew at the island’s 1976 Bicentennial Fourth of July celebration. She and her husband, Sheldon Parker, moved to Beaver Island from St. Johns, Michigan, in January 1969, after his retirement from Oldsmobile at the end of 1968, settling at their home on Font Lake.

History

The Beacon’s January 1969 “New Arrivals” item records the couple’s move: “After retiring from Oldsmobile at the end of 1968, Sheldon and Bea Parker moved up to the Island from St. Johns, for the winter, to their home at Font Lake. Having spent parts of many summers and never missing a deer season, they are enjoying the Island winter.” Even before that permanent move, community columns already treated the couple as regular islanders: a February 1969 fishing note credits Bea with an 11½-inch bluegill from Barney’s Lake, “many more that were of bragging size.” Through the 1970s the Beacon’s community columns kept recording the couple’s outdoor life together — coyote hunting with Sheldon in 1970 (three taken between them that year, part of an islandwide effort to reduce the coyote population), an eleven-machine snowmobile trip to Cross Village, Garden Island, and Hog Island in February 1971, winters in Florida, further ice-fishing trips, a mushroom-hunting invitation in June 1973, and a September 1972 hospitalization in Sault Ste. Marie.

Five years after the move, the February 1974 officer notice lists Bea Parker as secretary of the Beaver Island Civic Association, the same month Sheldon Parker, as Game Club President, was reporting on winter conditions in his own “Game News” column. She was reelected secretary after the January 9, 1975 annual election, and that November was the published contact for a Civic Association effort to line up cottage owners willing to rent to tourists for the 1976 season, a classified notice repeated into 1976. By the March 1976 election she had moved to treasurer, and a January 1977 report lists her as one of nine members of the Civic Board. On July 4, 1976, the Bicentennial Fourth of July breakfast at Holy Cross Parish Hall — “ham, sausage, eggs and pancakes” served to islanders and visiting Central Michigan University staff from 7 a.m. until noon — ran “under the management of Bea Parker.”

The Parkers’ home was also a fixture of extended family life: a March 1984 Beacon personal essay, “Beaver Island,” by their granddaughter Barb Parker, describes childhood summer vacations from St. Johns, Michigan, driving to Charlevoix and crossing by ferry to be met at the harbor by “grandma and grandpa.” Bea became a locally celebrated figure in the island’s deer-camp culture into old age: a December 1996 community column jokes that she could never be picked out as the island’s deer hunter from a crowd by appearance alone, and notes that her 14-year-old great-grandson, Tony Parker, took his own buck that season. By January 1999 the Beacon describes her as a 90-year-old great-grandmother “(who will call and insist that she’s only 89)” who came to view a relative’s hunting camp and, having not taken a deer herself that year, said, “I didn’t get mine this year, but I showed ’em where to hunt!” The November 1983 Beacon separately notes granddaughter Julie Dixon had by then spent “many memorable moments” with Sheldon and Bea Parker “for the past twenty some years.”

Evidence and limits

No source read for this article gives Bea Parker’s maiden name or a death date. The January 1999 community column’s “90-year-old” description (alongside her own insistence on 89) gives an approximate birth year of 1908 or 1909, not independently confirmed by a civil record; this article does not adopt it as an exact date. Her Civic Association offices are recorded only as election-notice results, without term dates or vote totals. The 1996 and 1999 community columns are informal, affectionate local writing rather than contemporaneous news reporting, and this article treats their specific claims (her exact age, the “90 women” comparison) as color rather than as verified fact.

Open questions

  • No source read for this article gives a full maiden name or death date for Bea Parker.
  • Can a civil or cemetery record confirm a birth year of approximately 1908–1909?

See also

The dated record

4 dated events · 1974–1976These years on the timeline →

Sources

  1. Reports that "After retiring from Oldsmobile at the end of 1968, Sheldon and Bea Parker moved up to the Island from St. Johns, for the winter, to their home at Font Lake." Establishes her husband's name, the couple's prior residence, and their Font Lake home; it does not give Bea Parker's maiden name or a birth date.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1969-01_Beaver-Beacon
  2. The held issue confirms the arrival notice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1969-01_Beaver-Beacon
  3. Lists Bea Parker as Civic Association secretary; it supplies no full civil identity, term, or biography.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-02_Beaver-Beacon
  4. The held eleven-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1974-02_Beaver-Beacon
  5. Names Bea Parker secretary of the Beaver Island Civic Association after the January 9 election; it provides no term dates or complete office record. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1975-01_Beaver-Beacon
  6. The scan confirms the officer result.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1975-01_Beaver-Beacon
  7. Lists Bea Parker as Civic Association treasurer. The shared printed name supports the episode link, but the notice does not provide term dates or a complete office record. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1976-03_Beaver-Beacon
  8. The held issue confirms the officer slate.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1976-03_Beaver-Beacon
  9. Names Bea Parker as the breakfast manager in the completed Bicentennial Fourth report. The notice does not establish a full civil identity or formal office. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1976-07_Beaver-Beacon
  10. The held Bicentennial issue confirms the breakfast-manager attribution.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1976-07_Beaver-Beacon
  11. The held eleven-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice or report; it does not expand the source-specific identity, event, or outcome claims.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1974-02_Beaver-Beacon
  12. Reports Bea Parker catching an 11-1/2 inch bluegill at Barney's Lake, among other good catches.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1969-02_Beaver-Beacon
  13. Reports Sheldon and Bea Parker taking coyotes as part of an islandwide effort to reduce the population; the September issue tallies three taken by the couple that year.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1970-03_Beaver-Beacon
  14. Names Sheldon and Bea Parker among an eleven-machine snowmobile party crossing to Garden and Hog Islands via Cross Village on February 24.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1971-02_Beaver-Beacon
  15. Reports Sheldon and Bea Parker spending a few weeks in Florida.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1971-03_Beaver-Beacon
  16. Reports Sheldon and Bea Parker catching bluegills at Barney's Lake that winter.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1972-02_Beaver-Beacon
  17. Reports Bea Parker (Mrs. Sheldon) a patient in the Sault Ste. Marie hospital.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1972-09_Beaver-Beacon
  18. A visitor recounts being invited by Sheldon and Bea Parker to go mushrooming. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1973-06_Beaver-Beacon
  19. Names Bea Parker, Secretary, Beaver Island Civic Association, as the contact for cottage owners willing to rent for the 1976 tourist season, with a P.O. box and phone number. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1975-11_Beaver-Beacon
  20. Repeats the cabin-rental contact listing for Bea Parker. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1976-05_Beaver-Beacon
  21. Lists Bea Parker as one of nine members of the Civic Board, alongside Ellen Welke, Phil Gregg, Mark Welke, and Ruth Himebaugh. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1977-01_Beaver-Beacon
  22. Notes granddaughter Julie Dixon had spent "many memorable moments" on the island with grandparents Sheldon and Bea Parker "for the past twenty some years." The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1983-11_Beaver-Beacon
  23. A granddaughter's memoir of childhood summer vacations from St. Johns, Michigan, to her grandparents Sheldon and Bea Parker's home on Beaver Island, describing the drive to Charlevoix and the ferry crossing. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1984-03_Beaver-Beacon
  24. An affectionate, informal profile of Bea Parker as a fixture of the island's deer season, noting her 14-year-old great-grandson Tony Parker also took a buck that year. Treated as color, not verified fact. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1996-12_Beaver-Beacon
  25. Describes Bea Parker as a "90-year old great-grandmother (who will call and insist that she's only 89)" visiting a relative's deer camp; gives an approximate, not exact, birth year. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1999-01_Beaver-Beacon

Added 1 August 2026 · revised 5 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Bea Parker”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/people/bea-parker/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, January 1969, "New Arrivals." (and 23 further sources listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-05. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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