Search	Features	Requests	Orders	Meet the Press

IDELLA PARKER TO SPEAK  

ABOUT RACE AND FRIENDSHIP

A list of upcoming Events for Idella Parker

GAINESVILLE -- Idella Parker, cook, housekeeper, and companion to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings from 1940 to 1950, will speak about her years with the famous author and her own life growing up as an African-American woman in early-20th century Florida at the Vero Beach Book Center (2145 Indian River Blvd.) on Saturday, January 29, at 1 p.m.

The event is the first of several speaking engagements during Black History Month for Parker, who also will sign copies of her new book, Idella Parker: From Reddick to Cross Creek, published recently by University Press of Florida. For more information on this event, please call (561) 569-2050.

Parker also will be speaking and signing books at a special Black History Month event at Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville on Monday, February 7, at 12 p.m. The event, sponsored by SFCC’s Black Student Union, will take place in Room R01 in the administration building and is free and open to the public. Please call Tia Thomas at (352) 336-2826 for more information on this event.

---

 

Parker also will appear at Books-A-Million in Ocala for a book signing on Friday, February 18, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Please call the bookstore (located at Gateway Plaza, 2701 SW College Road, in Ocala) at (352) 237-6618 for more information on this event.

She will return to south Florida in late February for two special author luncheons. First, the Friends of the Boynton Beach City Library is sponsoring an author luncheon on Monday, February 21, at 11:30a.m. The event will take place at Benvenuto’s Restaurant, located at 1730 North Federal Highway in Boynton Beach. The event is a fundraiser for the library; tickets are $30 per person or $270 for a table of ten. The deadline for reservations is Monday, February 7. For more information on this event, please call the Boynton Beach City Library at (561) 742-6380.

Parker will speak as a featured guest author for the Ex Libris SunTrust Celebrity Author Series on Tuesday, February 22 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. The event, presented by the Palm Beach Country Cultural Council, will take place at the Raymond F. Kravis Center from the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach. The Council will host a private, invitation-only cocktail reception in Ms. Parker’s honor prior to the presentation. For more information, call the Palm Beach County Cultural Council at (561) 471-2901.

---

 

Finally, Parker will appear at the Florida Authors Book Fair in Lake Helen (Volusia County) on Saturday, March 4 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Several other Florida authors will be on hand to meet with the public and sign copies of their books. For more information, please call (904) 228-1152.

---

 

Recently published by University Press of Florida, Idella Parker: From Reddick to Cross Creek is the book Parker’s fans begged her to write—the illustrated story that tells what happens before and after she worked for Florida’s Pulitzer-Prize winning author of The Yearling and Cross Creek. Continuing the account she began in her 1992 memoir (Idella: Marjorie Rawlings’ "Perfect Maid"), Parker adds frank details about their decade together and includes new stories about Rawlings’ beloved second husband, St. Augustine hotel owner Norton Baskin.

The couple used humor to hold together their friendship and marriage, she writes, even when people referred to Baskin as "Mr. Rawlings." Parker says Baskin thought they even would have laughed together about Rawlings’s accidental burial in the wrong cemetery, an incident Parker describes in the book. Baskin and Parker stayed in close contact even after Rawlings’s death, regularly exchanging letters, phone calls, and Christmas gifts.

Parker said she hopes her new book illustrates "changes that I’ve lived to see." In it, she discusses the types of prejudice she’s faced during her life and she gives a homespun account of what it was like to grow up in a poor family before blacks were given equal rights.

Parker also talks fondly about Reddick, her small, rural hometown between Ocala and Gainesville, and retells stories passed down from her ancestors about events both before and after the Civil War. She includes family legends about Nat Turner, leader of the 1831 slave revolt known as Turner’s Rebellion and reportedly one of her ancestors.

Parker also describes the disappointment she felt years ago after reading racist remarks in Rawlings’s letters. Today, however, she attributes Rawlings’ attitudes to the times they were living in and holds no grudges. She wishes the author would have lived to see integration and said she thinks they would be "the best of friends" if Rawlings were alive.

What results in From Reddick to Cross Creek is a revealing and personal memoir. Parker explained that when she wrote the first book she knew people would want to hear about Rawlings, but didn’t feel confident enough to write her own story. Today, at age 85, she said she thrives on sharing her experiences.

Upcoming Events for Idella Parker

Vero Beach—January 29, 1 to 3 p.m., Vero Beach Book Center; 2145 Indian River Blvd.; (561) 569-2050.

Gainesville—February 7, Noon to 1 p.m., Santa Fe Community College (Sponsored by the Black Student Union); 3000 NW 83^rd Street; Room R01 in Administration Building; (352) 336-2826.

Ocala—February 18, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Books-A-Million; 2701 SW College Road (Gateway Plaza); (352) 237-1707.

Boynton Beach—February 21, 11:30 a.m., Benvenuto Restaurant; 1730 North Federal Highway; Deadline for ticket reservations: Monday, February 7, 2000. Luncheon sponsored by the Boynton Beach City Library. $30 each for open seating or $270 for reserved table of 10; (561) 742-6380.

West Palm Beach—February 22, 6:30-7:30 p.m.; Raymond F. Kravis Center from the Performing Arts; Presented by the Palm Beach County Cultural Council for the Ex Libris SunTrust Celebrity Author Series; (561) 471-2901

Lake Helen (Volusia County)—March 4, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.; Lake Helen Public Library; Florida Authors Book Fair; (904) 228-1152.