Isobel Parke

1926 - 2020

EPPING - Isobel Parke, the third of five daughters of Charles and Jean Hamilton Gordon Parke, passed away on Feb. 4, 2020.

She was born at Henbury House, Sturminster Marshall, Dorset, United Kingdom, in 1926.

She graduated from the Winsor School, Boston, Mass., and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, United Kingdom, with a degree in history in 1947.

For a brief time, she worked for the United Kingdom Ministry of Education. After teaching in Germany and Kenya, she became education manager for adult education at Moor Park College, Farnham, United Kingdom, for 12 years. After another year teaching in Kenya, she returned to the United States and joined Pat and Miriam Jackson at the behavioral public relations firm of Jackson, Jackson and Wagner in New Hampshire and remained senior counsel until her death.

As a member of the Public Relations Society of America, she became national secretary in 1988 and served as its representative on the Council for Journalism and Mass Communications and on two PRSA education commissions.

During her professional career, she worked with many independent schools and environmental concerns. She served on the SPACE committee (Statewide Program of Action to Conserve our Environment) including helping to pass the constitutional amendment in 1968 that permitted current use taxation on open land. She was the first woman president of New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association and latterly served on the boards of Lamprey River Watershed Association and the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension Rockingham County Advisory Council. She also worked closely with the Southeast Land Trust to conserve open space.

Since 1963, she lived in a 1745 house in West Epping. Her activities included managing 699 blueberry bushes, raspberries, black currants, a flower garden and 160 acres of forest land. She was a longtime member of West Epping Quaker Meeting, adding it to her Episcopalian upbringing. She was married to Patrick Jackson, had no children, but enjoyed her relationship with the children of Patrick Jackson and children of Miriam Jackson.

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SERVICES: A service will be held in the spring and announced when set.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to any conservation or environmental organization of your choice.

For more information, please visit www.brewittfuneralhome.com.