He keeps the books for Gladiolus lovers
Albin K. Parker has ties with two fascinating and absorbing organizations, the Norwood Historical Society and it’s headquarters in the amazing Day House, and the New England Gladiolus Society which is the clearing house for 2500 gladiolus lovers and raisers. And previous to these present connections he became thoroughly acquainted with the hardware business, and Uncle Sam’s mailing system,
Born in Reading, Mr. Parker graduated from the schools there and resided there for many years before he established his business and residence in Norwood. His first career in the hardware business began with a position with Bigelow and Dowse in Boston, wholesale hardware dealers. He worked for this concern for sixteen years, traveling on the road some of the time in Vermont, New Hampshire and northern New York. From the Bigelow company he went to the Simmons Hardware in New York as a traveling agent, and later worked for the Dana Hardware Company in Boston.
In 1909 Mr. Parker bought out the George E. Sanborn hardware business in Norwood and until 1933 conducted the Parker Hardware store where the Norwood Hardware store is now located.
Norwood Postmaster
During the years 1924 to 1933, his time was divided between his hardware business and Uncle Sam’s mail, for it was in 1924 that he received his first appointment as postmaster in Norwood under Calvin Coolidge’s administration. A second appointment came in 1928, and his service covered almost nine years. When he first took over the postmastership the office was located in the Talbot block, but was moved soon after to the location now occupied by the Town Square Hardware.
In July 1934, Mr. Parker acquired one of his present absorptions, namely, the Day House. In that year he and Mrs. Parker were made custodians of the house by the Historical Society who had but recently acquired it. The Day House is a fascinating structure with an originality in architecture which could not be found elsewhere. The present form of the house dates back to 1890. It is unique from top to bottom with countless secret closets concealed in the paneling, with a clever jewelry hideaway, a drawer fashioned in the molding for clothes hooks, with tapestried wallpapers, burlap wallpapers, biblical tilings on a fireplace, and rooms designed with numerous raised, platforms, and placed on different levels.
Cares For Day House
The tremendous and lofty hall foyer, with galleries from the three floors opening on it, features a magnificent oak staircase and a mammoth, red sandstone fireplace. The dining room is solid mahogany with sandstone fireplace is a room of rich beauty. And odd quirks such as a series of lights with one push of the button snap, ping on one light, another push setting two bulbs aglow, and the third push snapping, four lights on. give the house a rare distinction. The house and everything in it from antiques and memoranda to the rooms equipped for art classes, is a fascinating place of unusual distinction. It is Mr. Parker’s responsibility to care for the property, the seventeen rooms of the mansion, and to open its doors to visitors on the first Sunday of each month.
In 1936, out of the blue, came Mr, Parker’s other occupation as secretary of the New England Gladiolus Society. Membership in this society extends around the world including every state in the union but Arizona, every province in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, South America, most of the European countries, and a few members in Asia. Big and little gladiolus growers are among the members, those with whom they are a hobby. It is the latest gladiolus society in the world with several affiliated societies connected with it.
Each fall in Boston the Society sponsors a show, the largest gladiolus show’ anywhere, and with the membership they issue a 272-page book, on new gladiolus developments and the activities of members. Mr. Parker has some gorgeous samples of the flower in the Day House yard, huge blooms of luscious colors, but he belittles his collection as small numbering some 800, while, he says, some growers have forty acres of blooms.
Five Granddaughters
The Parker’s before taking over the Day House custodianship, made their home on Florence Avenue. There are four children scattered far, a son in Pennsylvania, and three married daughters in New Hampshire, Virginia and Rhode Island. The five grandchildren are all girls.
Mr. Parker is the secretary of Orient Lodge of Masons, a member of the Odd Fellows and the Historical Society. During the war years he was fuel commissioner in Norwood.
Dealing as he does with the hobbies of others, it is only natural that he should have some important ones of his own. At the pencil sketching classes, held at Day House, he learned to sketch although when he started-he maintained that he knew nothing of drawing except how to draw his breath. With nine lessons, his sketches, which he disclaims as of any importance, are most realistic and attractive, and lately he has been specializing in sketches of New England churches. He also has a collection of cachets, with a goodly number of Canadian examples, and many others including the only two special-Norwood cachets, and a most interesting one from Antartica which took a year to reach him.
(All articles originally appeared in the Norwood Messenger unless otherwise noted)