Remembering Henrietta Parker, The Mother of Elder Care, During Women’s History Month
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – March 29, 2021 – You can find “The Mother of Elder Care” buried in Elmwood Cemetery at the base of a Roman-style monument.
On Monday, the ivy-white statue was pointing toward a cloudless sky as leaders from Parker Health Group quietly walked over to Henrietta Parker’s grave and placed a bouquet of flowers to mark her birthday.
For Chief Administration and Talent Officer Jean Rebele and Chief Strategy Officer Donna Silbert and others at Parker Health Group, it’s not only important to make sure her resting place is well-maintained, but they feel a proud, solemn duty to educate people about Henrietta Parker’s remarkable place in history.
As we commemorate Women’s History Month in March, it is important to remember that Henrietta donated a portion of the land surrounding the family’s home in New Brunswick to build the Francis E. Parker Memorial Home for so-called “incurables” to receive affordable quality nursing care.
In the subsequent decades, this stately home at the corners of Easton Avenue and Landing Lane in New Brunswick – named for Mrs. Parker’s husband, Francis – would become her life’s work. Henrietta is now widely remembered for starting a movement, providing compassionate quality, long-term nursing for elders.
“Henrietta Parker’s remarkable legacy is being carried out to this day – every day,” Parker President and CEO Roberto Muñiz said.
Henrietta “Etta” (Macaulay) Parker was born around 1866, and married Francis E. Parker. Parker was a successful New York City attorney with roots in New Brunswick. He contracted a debilitating illness in 1903. When he passed away February 10, 1905, the obituary on the front page of The Daily Home News reported that Parker required constant care in the last years of his life.
“Francis thought about others who were ill and surely needed constant attention as he did, but couldn’t afford that kind of care,” Silbert said. “He wanted Henrietta to help these people.”
From her husband’s dying wish, Henrietta opened the nursing care home near Buccleuch Park just two years later. She shared the belief that local residents suffering from chronic illnesses should have the opportunity to live in a comfortable, home-like environment with excellent and affordable nursing care.
Today, this nursing home is known as Parker at Landing Lane – part of an expansive, ever-growing network that includes Parker campuses in nearby Piscataway, Highland Park, Somerset and Monroe Township.
Parker now stands as a reliable safe haven, with a mission to continually find new ways to make aging more manageable, relatable and enriching for all. Yet this is not the only legacy of Henrietta Parker.
In fact, the last time the world was faced with a global pandemic – the Spanish flu of 1918-1920 – her financial generosity helped Saint Peter’s Hospital help save the lives of countless New Brunswick residents and others who flocked in from the countryside for care.
“Saint Peter's Hospital was one of the better hospitals in New Brunswick, if not New Jersey,” Eleanor Molloy, president of the Elmwood Cemetery Association, explained. “Part of that was because of the support staff and people who were committed to treating chronically ill patients. And, of course, because of the generosity of people like Henrietta Parker.”
Henrietta’s personal life was also full of love. While building and running an organization, she raised three daughters. She also found love again and married Gustaf Stromberg on her birthday in 1913.
Henrietta Parker Stromberg died in 1931, quickly hailed as the Mother of Elder Care in New Brunswick and the inspiration behind Parker Health Group’s steadily expanding footprint and levels of aging services while elevating the level of quality care for elders.
Of course, there is still Parker’s legacy home on Landing Lane, where portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Parker greet visitors.
“It’s been 114 years since the nursing home on Landing Lane opened and our dedication to carrying out Henrietta’s vision of compassionate, quality nursing care has never wavered,” Rebele said.
“It’s important to recall the legacy that Henrietta left behind during Women’s History Month,” said Silbert. “The truth is, that legacy lives on each day in everything we do.”