An icon of the Millarville and Okotoks communities celebrated his 99th birthday last week.
Winston Parker said it’s not too surprising he’s going into his hundredth year – his mother lived to be 98, his aunt 100, and his older sister recently turned 101 years old. He chalks it all up to genes and luck.
There’s a lot to be seen and done in 99 years.
“I’ve had an interesting life,” said Parker.
During the Second World War, Parker was an operator air gunner. After being shot down at Hamburg, he spent three years in a prison camp before being freed by General Patton and marching three months out of Poland, he said.
“We lost a lot of guys, I don’t know how many, but a good many fellows didn’t make it,” said Parker. “I weighed 98 pounds when I got back to England. It’s hard to believe.”
He returned home to Canada and after a lengthy hospital stay to treat him for starvation and regain his strength, he bought land west of Okotoks and ranched in the Millarville area from 1945 to 1979.
While living in Millarville he befriended a 10-year-old girl, Virginia Yarjau, whose parents he knew well from working with the Priddis Millarville Fair.
“Virginia’s mom and dad were the caretakers and they moved a house in there, and she’s been my sidekick since she was 10,” said Parker.
Yarjau said she has nothing but utmost respect for her childhood best friend. Their connection was always strong despite the age difference, she said.
“We’ve been friends a long time,” said Yarjau. “He’s a fantastic man.”
He’s also a busy man. Still living independently, with a part-time live-in caretaker, Parker has a full schedule.
“You have to make an appointment to see him,” said Yarjau. “I’m not kidding. I tried to take him out for lunch last week, and he just said, ‘It can’t be this week.’”
From playing bridge three times a week at the Okotoks & District Seniors Club to having lunch out with friends, there’s always something going on for Parker.
His connection to the seniors club runs back to the ‘80s. At the time there were two separate senior groups, which Parker helped to bring under one roof and one name in 2000.
“We had the active social club, and then there was the old original seniors that had a little group of their own, and they were much older than us, most of them, and they liked to stay in their own bunch,” said Parker. “There was a little friction – I don’t know why – but there was a little friction between them. So my wife and I, we were working hard to come up with a seniors’ place.”
When the Town learned the Parkers were trying to come up with a seniors’ space, they were connected with the group working to build the Foothills Centennial Centre and worked out an agreement for their current space, located in the south end of the community centre.
It took a lot of work – and several weeks of 7 a.m. meetings – but the arrangement turned out to be beneficial for both groups, he said.
“It finished so the seniors got their money and were built and then we helped them build,” said Parker.
Helen Bolkart, a member of the seniors’ club, said she and other members are appreciative of Parker’s efforts to establish their centre.
“Winston did a lot for this club,” said Bolkart. “He is a legend of Okotoks.”
The feeling was shared by fellow club member Val Thom, who first met Parker when she was the president of the Newcomers Club years ago. She was planning a special evening in honour of Remembrance Day and invited him to come out and speak to the ladies in her group.
On the day of the event he wasn’t feeling well and wasn’t sure he’d make it, she said. When he did arrive, he apologized that he wouldn’t be able to talk for long because he was under the weather, she said.
“About an hour later, we had to tell him that was enough, because some of the women wanted to ask him questions,” said Thom. “So we came not feeling well and he certainly impressed the Newcomers in Okotoks.”
His story of being in the air force has impressed others over the years, including local writer Elaine Thomas, who penned a biography called Saddles and Service, which follows Parker through the war and into his ranching years.
Proceeds from the book go toward a scholarship at Southern Alberta Institute of Technology for students in financial need, said Parker.
It’s where he went to school – once for farm machinery and tractor training when agriculture first began making the switch from horses to machines, and then years later for a few courses in photography, which he took up as a hobby.
“I got pretty badly hurt and was in the hospital for a long time, I was in traction, and I thought, ‘All I do is work,’ so I took up photography,” said Parker. “I quit hunting with a rifle and hunted with my camera.”
Though he can’t quite take photos like he used to – it’s a little more difficult to hop out of a vehicle and cross the ditch to catch the right shot – he said he still enjoys his hobby work.
It all keeps him feeling young and enjoying life, he said.
“I do pretty good,” said Parker. “There’s always something to do.”
