What I See with Peter Fiorenza: The late Alan Parker was a true citizen of Geraldton and a terrific fella

A few months ago in the middle of an afternoon nanna nap, I received a phone call. I didn’t recognise the number, and usually I let the call go to messages. But on this occasion I decided to pick up, and I’m glad I did. On the other end was a gentle, yet well-spoken voice. “Hello Peter, It’s Alan Parker here. My son Kim passed on your number to me,” he said. “I just wanted to give you a call to let you know that I always read your columns in the paper, and thoroughly enjoy them. “I really like what you have to say and, especially, the way you write.” Well, for an amateur writer, you could not be given a higher compliment. For the next few minutes, I had a very entertaining chat with Mr Parker, discussing life and, in particular, life in Geraldton. Soon afterwards, I caught up with his son Kim (known as Butch) and told him his dad had called me. “That’s great,” Butch said. “He’s always talking about your columns and how he likes them, and I keep telling him to ring you and let you know.” Recently, Alan Parker died at the grand old age of 90. And what a terrific citizen he was, and a true Geraldton boy. Born in 1934, he attended Geraldton Primary School and Geraldton Senior High School. Like many of his time, he left school at the age of 14 and took up employment at Geraldton Building Company. Alan retired in 1994 after 46 years of loyal service to GBC. He lived a lot of his life living on Kean Street, adjacent to what are today Cathedral Avenue and Maitland Park. The Parker kids shared the street with luminaries such as the Worthingtons, who were responsible for delivering the milk, and the Coopers. Phil Cooper, later mayor of Geraldton, operated a transport company at the time. Mr Parker was a good family man, who also spent time volunteering for the Anglican Church. For a period, he helped out at the Mission to Seafarers and also served as canon at the Cathedral. For more than 10 years he supported Butch’s business with his superb handwritten bookkeeping skills — all immaculately recorded in ledgers. This, no doubt, was a major building block in the continued success of his son’s operation. As you know, I love history, especially the history of Geraldton and the people who have helped create this terrific community. I’m so glad I had that phone chat with Mr Parker that afternoon. He was. indeed. a wonderful fella. Cr Peter Fiorenza hosts Sports Shed on Saturday (9am-noon) and Fiorenza on Sunday (10am-noon) on Radio MAMA