Special Dedication: Hank Parker
Written by Kelvin Gorospe and Anna Herforth
Great partnerships always seem to be formed with a bit of luck, and so is the case with the meeting of Hank Parker and Eloy Rodriguez. It all started with a simple advertisement in the Cornell Communique in 1993: “generator needed to power a newly built field laboratory in the Amazon, Venezuela.” Stumbling upon the ad almost seemed like fate to Hank and his wife, who were not only looking to become more involved in alumni matters but who were also getting ready to sell their equipment rental business. That the Parkers had happened to glimpse his want ad was a stroke of luck for Dr. Eloy Rodriguez as well, who dreamed of training students in a setting of great biodiversity. Little did the Parkers know that their subsequent response to Eloy’s ad would be the start of a long-lasting endeavor allowing Cornellians to venture into the field for years to come.

Like many of the key players in Eloy’s program, Hank did not start off in the discipline of field research. He began his Cornell career in 1959, when he returned from the Marine Corps to enter the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences as sophomore in the Agricultural Economics major (now Applied Economics and Management). Hank recalls a daily routine of taking classes in the morning and going on field trips in the afternoon—an education that incorporated theoretical aspects of classroom learning with applied, hands-on experience.

Student-oriented professors who gave students a taste of the practice, as well as the theory, of their discipline were essential in Hank Parker’s education. He sees this philosophy embodied in Eloy Rodriguez. The Parkers found him to be bubbling with enthusiasm about a summer field program in the Amazon for undergraduates, and his infectious zeal seemed to spark the interest of everyone with whom he came in contact. “With the right combination of good professors, good students, and good research,” the Parkers say, there is no end to what mysteries may be solved during these programs. The Parkers emphasize the importance of supporting programs that ensure field experience for Cornellians, and believe in the vision of discovery and conservation that Dr. Rodriguez translates to his students.

Amazon and the Caribbean have a lot to teach about conservation, but the Parkers fear that the conservationist mindset is diminishing in the young people of America. They vividly remember their fervent efforts at recycling in the wartime, making the most of their resources. In 1942, they started collecting newspapers, balls of tin foil, anything that would help the war effort. They even collected milkweed pods in the fall, which could be used to make life preservers and down for winter jackets. Recycling and care for natural resources have stayed a part of their lives. They hope that students, bolstered with the knowledge and experiences gained in Eloy’s summer programs, can express to their peers the true importance of natural resources and their preservation.

At the time Hank Parker was a Cornell student, an exotic summer internship may have been tallying farm statistics throughout New York State. Cornell and the world have changed so much and so fast since then, that now a trip to the Amazon for a small brigade of students isn’t impossible. “It’s an exciting time to be alive,” say the Parkers.

Hank was born in 1932 and has since raised four children, two of whom also went to Cornell.

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