Stanley Reed Parker, Jr., of Taunton, Massachusetts, passed away peacefully October 15, 2014. Born January 23, 1927, in Taunton, Massachusetts, Stanley is best known as “everybody’s pediatrician.”
After graduating from Taunton High School, he headed off to the University of New Hampshire. The war forced him to take a break from his studies, and in 1945, he joined the US Navy, serving as a medical corpsman on the aircraft carrier USS Roosevelt until 1946, when he returned to UNH, graduating in 1949. Stan attended Tufts Medical School, graduating in 1954. After completing his residency at Dartmouth College, he returned to his hometown to begin a practice in pediatrics that spanned 42 years.
Stanley’s love for his job and his patients was surpassed only by his love for his family. As a young medical intern, he met a beautiful nursing student, Phyllis McKendry, and they married in June of 1956. The next 58 years were spent in a loving marriage raising 3 children.
Stan relaxed by skiing, boating, puttering, and playing the piano. In retirement, he and Phyl enjoyed traveling. They visited family in Northern Ireland and Wales; toured Ireland, England, and France; took a cruise through the Panama Canal; and drove the Trans-Canada highway.
While he appreciated visiting other places, Stan’s heart belonged to Massachusetts. He loved spending summers at his cottage in Mattapoisett, and in the fall, returning to Raynham to rake leaves and await the first snowfall—he was a true New Englander.
Stanley is survived by his wife Phyllis, his sister Audrey Pollard, his brother Stuart Parker, his sons Thomas Parker and his wife Maria and Scott Parker and his wife Christine and his daughter Janice Whitaker and her husband Malcolm, and his grandchildren Andrew Parker, Elise and Camille Parker, and Erin and Sarah Whitaker.
Visiting hours will be held at Crapo-Hathaway Funeral Home in Taunton on Friday, November 7, 2014, from 4 to 8 pm. The funeral service will be held at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 111 High Street, Taunton, Massachusetts, on Saturday, November 8, 2014, from 10:30 to 11:30 am. Interment of his cremains will be in Westville Cemetery, Taunton.
In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations in his memory, be made to St. Thomas Episcopal Church, PO Box , Taunton, MA 02780.