Donald Glen Parker

Donald Glen Parker – also known as Sonny, Glen, Henry Hart, during different times of his life by family and friends – of Westtown, New York, passed away on July 26, 2025 at Montefiore Nyack Hospital.

Born in Hope Arkansas he was the son of the late Norf and Joyce (Thorton) Parker Funda.

Donald graduated from Hialeah High School in Florida where he was voted "Mr. Basketball," another appellation to add to his identity, and the most valuable player of the year by his fellow classmates. During college, he shifted his focus from sports to academics and graduated from the University of Texas with a B. A. in English. In 1969 he moved to Greenwich Village to begin his graduate studies. Enrolled at NYU, he earned his M.A. and completed all his course work toward a doctorate degree, focusing on the poetry of Hart Crane. Leaving Washington Square behind, he moved to Orange County to begin his career at SUNY Orange where he taught primarily Freshman English II and courses focusing on the reading and writing of poetry.

Donald was a gifted poet himself and while teaching at OCCC (as SUNY Orange was called at the time) he also edited and co-edited various professional literary publications including "The Visionary Company: A Magazine of the 1920's," "Esprit'" and "Wordsmith," as well as acting for a time as the faculty advisor for the "Orange Review," the student literary magazine. During the 1994/1995 academic year he was honored through the Fulbright Program to teach English in The Netherlands. He was on the SUNY Orange faculty for over 40 years, earning the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1990. As a professor Donald was intent on stressing the importance of thoughtful, and creative, as well as grammatically correct communication with others both in person and by pen. After retiring in 2018, he continued to teach on an adjunct basis until the end of the 2020 spring semester.

Donald was an enthusiastic traveler and semester breaks were often spent visiting family in Texas and California, friends and cultural venues in Europe, literary explorations in New England, or closer to home, just spending an afternoon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to be followed by a Belgian ale at the Belgian Beer Café. He was well known for the amusing postcards he would send during his journeys, describing his discoveries in the haiku form of poetry. Sharing his many adventures in travel and life was his wife of almost 25 years Carol (Cates) Parker.

Although the last three years of Donald's retirement were marred by the onset and then development of dementia, he never lost his keen interest and awareness of the world around him.

As his well-loved lines of poetry gradually faded from his memory, he remained of this world as the wildlife in the backyard and the view from the passenger seat of the car became fascinating sources for his observation and comments. Until the last eight weeks of his life, he enjoyed eating dinner out at the end of the bar of Bottoms Up in Slate Hill almost every Thursday night.

Donald is survived by his wife Carol, his sister Patricia and her husband Gordon Cathey of Dallas, Texas and, their daughter Joy Cathey and her husband Sam Grogan, with their daughter Zoe in San Diego; and his sister Magaret and her son Chris of Dallas. Also surviving him are his first wife Mary (Conklin) Hutchins, their marriage ending in divorce, with whom he had a son, George, who predeceased his parents in 2021, and their grandson Omar Parker and his wife Bridgett; and his second wife Jacqueline (Waldherr) Parker, their marriage also ending in divorce, and in Brooklyn, NY, their son Glen Parker and his wife Elizabeth whose family includes Donald's step-grandchildren Juliet, Pearl, and Issac.

A funeral service will be offered by Fr Pablo of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Middletown, NY at Applebee-McPhillips Funeral Home on Thursday, July 31, 2025 beginning at 11AM. Interment will follow at the Ridgebury Cemetery in Ridgebury, NY.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Applebee McPhillips Funeral Home in Middletown, NY. 845-343-6309.