Clyde Parker presented service award
Published 9:30 am Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Clyde Parker, second from right, receives the Justine Lowenberg Nusbaum Award for his “exceptional volunteer service” to the American Red Cross of Southeastern Virginia. With him, from left, are Charlie Nusbaum, chairman of the Southeastern Virginia Chapter Board of Directors; Erin Zabel, executive director, Southeastern chapter); and Reggie Gordon, chief executive officer, Southeastern Virginia Region. Parker is chairman of the Franklin-Southampton Advisory Committee and a board member of the Southeastern chapter. — SUBMITTED
FRANKLIN—To honor the memory of Justine Lowenberg Nusbaum, who gave 80 years of dedicated service to the local Red Cross, her family and the American Red Cross of Southeastern Virginia are proud to present the Justine Lowenberg Nusbaum Award recognizing exceptional volunteer service. This annual award is presented to a special volunteer whose humanitarian service, resourcefulness in getting a job done, and readiness to act as an ambassador for the Red Cross, all symbolize a strength and beauty of spirit, that are recognized as the essence of the “exceptional volunteer.”
This year’s recipient is Clyde Parker of Franklin.
The award was presented at the annual meeting of the American Red Cross of Southeastern Virginia and volunteer recognition dinner held recently at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens. Charlie Nusbaum, chairman of the Chapter’s Board of Directors, presented the award.
Parker serves on the Board of Directors, and executive committee, of the American Red Cross of Southeastern Virginia. He came on that Board in 2003 following the merger of the Portsmouth-West Chesapeake and the Tidewater Chapter in Norfolk, all the while representing Franklin and Southampton County on both bodies. All of this was preceded by Parker’s membership with the Southampton County Chapter, of which he served as chairman, which was absorbed by the Portsmouth-West Chesapeake Chapter in the year 2000.
“I started with the American Red Cross in 1973,” said Parker. “I was working at Franklin Equipment Company as personnel manager. Early one morning, Roger Drake, company chairman of the board, called me and asked me to report to his office. ‘I want you to contact the Red Cross and get them to schedule a bloodmobile visit to Franklin, and we will sponsor it,’” Drake is reported to have commanded.
Parker continued, “A blood drive was held at the Franklin Baptist Church, sponsored by Franklin Equipment Company, and we got 189 pints of blood. Before too long, I found myself on a Red Cross committee – and things evolved from there. “I am honored to receive this award,” Parker said.
“When I think of all the people who received this award in the past and the fact that it was presented by Justine Lowenberg Nusbaum’s great nephew, Charlie Nusbaum, I am especially honored and grateful.”
