Margarete Eleanor (Holt) Parker

Margarete Eleanor Holt Parker passed away peacefully on February 5, 2018 after a brief illness at the Mosser Nursing Home, Trexlertown, PA. Born of German immigrant parents, Gustav and Elfriede Holt, in Long Beach, New York on December 2, 1930, she graduated from Long Beach High and attended the Mt. Sinai School of Nursing in New York City. Upon graduation from Mt. Sinai, she married Desmond Risley Parker of Madison, New York, at St. John's Lutheran Church in Long Beach, and moved to Oceanside, Long Island, where she worked as a registered nurse at South Nassau Communities Hospital for 35 years. During their 64 years of marriage, she and Desmond raised three daughters, Diane, Melanie and Corinne, while she worked as a nurse and cared for her eldest daughter Diane at home. She was an advocate for the voiceless, a fervent supporter of the Association for the Help of Retarded Children, where Diane was a student, and a strong proponent of higher education for her two younger daughters.  During the mid-seventies, the family lived two memorable years in Isfahan, Iran, due to Desmond's work with Grumman Aerospace Co.  Before she and Desmond retired to Fleetwood, Pennsylvania in 1989, she was also an active member of the Order of the Eastern Star, and through her selfless lifestyle taught her daughters the guiding tenets of the Order: to be kind, truthful and  charitable. Margarete worked tirelessly to provide for her family and gladly shared in the joys and tribulations of their lives. She also relished her summertime family vacations, and memorable trips to Lake Winnipesaukee, Burlington, Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, and Hawaii. She honed her wit by reading her two daily New York newspapers and working on crossword puzzles all her life. Margarete was predeceased by her parents and sister, Ruth. Margarete will be dearly missed by her husband, Desmond, her brother-in-law, Anthony Palmigiano, daughters Diane, Melanie, and Corinne, and four grandsons, Parker and Connor Edmonds (David Edmonds), Benner and Ethan Geurtsen (David Geurtsen). A memorial service will be held at a later date. Donations may be made to:  AHRC, 189 Wheatley Road #3, Brookville, NY 11545-2699   or www.ahrc.org