Farmer, community activist.
Born near Deloraine on 9 February 1927, daughter of Nellie Holden (1894-1958) and Thomas Henry “Tom” Wilson (1894-1968), she attended a one-room school to grade 8 then completed grade 9 by correspondence. She moved to Winnipeg to attend Kelvin High School for grades 10 to 12 where she met her future husband.
In 1948, she graduated from the University of Manitoba with a degree in Home Economics. She worked for a year as a Home Economics extension worker in southern Ontario before returning to Manitoba to marry Lorne Edmund Parker (1927-1990, son of William James Parker) on 6 August 1949. They settled on a farm at Union Point and had a son and three daughters, including Sharon Lorraine Parker (1951-2015).
Active in the community, she was a member of Avonlea United Church, a 4-H leader, and a member of the Domain Women's Institute. She served as Secretary of the Manitoba Women's Institute (1966-1992) and founding secretary of the Manitoba Farm Vacation Association (1972-1976). In recognition of her service, she was inducted in the Manitoba Agricultural Hall of Fame (2005).
She died at the Grace Hospice on 8 March 2024 and was buried in the Avonlea Cemetery.
Marriage registration [Nellie Halden, Thomas Henry Wilson], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Furrows in the Valley by the Morris History Book Committee, 1980, page 246.
Obituary [Lorne Edmund Parker], Winnipeg Free Press, 7 November 1990, page 44.
Obituary [Sharon Lorraine Parker], Winnipeg Free Press, 13 June 2015.
Obituary [Gwen Parker], Dignity Memorial.
Obituary [Frances Gwendoline Parker], Winnipeg Free Press, 16 March 2024.
Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 25 February 2025
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