Donald Gladwin Parsons (1927 - 2014)

Born 14 Jul 1927 in Portsmouth, NH

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Died 2 Nov 2014 at age 87 in Rye, NH

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Donald was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on July 14, 1927. He was raised in Erie, PA, attending the local public schools.

At the age of 14, he took his first job, at Stevenson's Market in Erie. The store owner liked him so much, he got a 25% raise after his first day… earning a whopping 30 cents/hour. In that job today he probably would have been given the title of “Poultry Terminator,” his responsibilities having included the less than enviable task of processing live chickens for market.

He attended Culver Military Academy in Culver, IN, for his High School education, graduating in 1945. Exactly two months after the formal surrender of the Japanese in World War II, Don was drafted into the U. S. Army, where he served in the Army Signal Corps. He served as "Radio Operator" at Fort Lewis, Washington, until his discharge in December of 1946.

Donald attended MIT with the plan of pursuing engineering, but discovered a greater interest in business. He transferred to Boston University where he earned a Bachelor’s in Business Administration in 1950. After graduation, he started his career at United Business Service in Boston as an Associate Financial Analyst, working his way up to the position of President. He retired in 1997 after 47 years.

Through introduction by his sister Priscilla, he met and then dated Ethel Shirlaw of Winslow, ME. They had only 7 dates before they were married in 1955. While their first home was an apartment in Norwood, MA, they found themselves moving to homes in Walpole and then Needham, MA, to raise their children. These towns also had the advantage of convenient commuter rail service into Back Bay, Boston, where he worked. By 1978, with the children largely out of school, they moved to an elegant home in Dover, MA. In the mid-1990s, with the transition of UBS from Boston to Wellesley, and two large homes, one in Dover and one in Moultonborough, NH, they decided it was time to downsize. They sold the Dover house and moved to an apartment in Wellesley. During this time, with retirement approaching, Don and Ethel were spending more and more time at their spacious Lake house.

In the late 1990s Don and Ethel began to take a few weeks a year in Florida to get a break from the cold New England winters. By 1998, with Donald finally in retirement, they purchased a condo in "The Meadows" of Sarasota, FL. This location had the added benefit of being in the same community as his sister Priscilla. They began spending Jan-April of each year in FL while otherwise at their Lake house. In the next few years they traded up to larger homes in "The Meadows". After the condo on Sandleheath Road, they moved into a home at 2864 Wrenwood Court and finally to a large home at 3901 Stable Lane. Faced once again with the challenge of maintaining two large homes, they decided to sell the Lake house in 2001 and consolidate full-time into their home in Sarasota. Now they were experiencing the full heat and humidity of Florida summers, and it was too much. To avoid the heat and with the desire to be closer to family, they made one last move, this time back to NH. In the Fall of 2003, they moved into their last home; at 120 Woodland Road, in Hampton, next to Rye, where generations of Parsons had lived their lives.

One of the great gifts Don gave his family was the Lake Winnipesaukee experience. Many fond memories came from family times spent at the “squirrel cage” in Wolfeboro, the cottage on Lunt Road in Moultonborough, the Townhouse at Windward Harbor, and the home they built on Blackeys Cove. These were places Don could really relax, let his hair down (or what he had of it) and get away from the office. While he wasn’t particularly keen on water skiing or sailing himself, he provided his family with all the toys such as sailboats and various power boats (the MFG, the Browning, the Sunfish, the Folbot, the IMP, the Whaler and the Coronado… just to name a few). Many great memories were had at "The Lake".

While not working and, with his wife, raising his three sons, he supported his community through volunteering his time with the Needham Congregational Church, the Boy Scouts, and the United Way.