University of New England

Louise Parker James ’43

Louise Parker James, 82, of 117 Neal Street, Portland, died on Nov. 16, 2006, at the Maine Medical Center, in the company of people she loved.
    
She was born in Portland on April 30, 1924, the daughter of Joseph E. and Edith G. Parker of Gorham. She attended Gorham public schools, graduated from Westbrook College in 1943 and received her BA from Connecticut College for Women in 1945. She taught history at Westbrook College from 1945 to 1947, and was Assistant Director of Residence.
    
Louise was a 50-year volunteer at the Maine Medical Center and was a former President of The Women's Board of Maine General Hospital. A longtime trustee of the Portland Public Library, she was recently made honorary Board Chairman. She was a former Chairman of the Overseers of the Bar of the State of Maine, and a member of the Judicial Ethics Committee.

She also served as a member of the Governor's Advisory Committee of the Maine Youth Center, a board member of the Junior League of Portland, a member of The Women's Committee of The Portland Symphony Orchestra, a founding member of the Museum Guild of the Portland Museum of Art, and as a trustee of North Yarmouth Academy.

She served as a Trustee of Westbrook College, now the University of New England, and as a member of the Maine Women Writers Collection on the Westbrook campus. She was a Member of the Colonial Dames of America, and served as a Trustee at Dumbarton House, Washington, DC.
    
In September of 2005, she received a Deborah Morton Award at Westbrook College (UNE) which honors outstanding Maine women. The Parker Pavilion on the Westbrook College campus is named in honor of Louise and her sisters.
    
Her husband, P. Heyward James Jr., died in 1974. She is survived by her son, H. Parker James and his partner Randall H. Albright; two sisters, Eleanor Parker Merrill and Wilma Parker Redman; her brother-in-law, Charles Whitney Redman Jr.; and several nieces and nephews.
    
In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be sent to The Building Fund of the Portland Public Library or the Joseph E. and Edith G. Parker Scholarship Fund at the University of New England.

A memorial service will be held Saturday, Dec. 2, 2006, 2 p.m., Portland Museum of Art, 7 Congress Square.