It’s hard to think of Plant City and not think of Helen Parke. She and her late husband Roy worked together to build Parkesdale Farms and shaped generations of leaders with their affectionate and hospitable nature.
“I’ve had a busy life, not too much in the community and certainly not politics, but I’ve had a busy life,” Parke said. “We had five children and five children don’t keep you out of the field. That goes hand-in-hand there. Roy was very progressive and so interested in so many things. So while we were busy as we could be on the farm here he wanted to start the market, which we did. We started that on the back of a truck.”
The truck didn’t remain an adequate venue for long and after years of growing from one building to another they finally landed in the current legendary Parkesdale Market.
Though she was born in St. Louis, Parke has more than adapted to farming life. On their farm in Pennsylvania she quickly learned to milk cows and drive a tractor. Her dedication to hard work followed her to Plant City. If Roy was the Strawberry King that makes Helen the Strawberry Queen, a title that suits her well. Despite being 93 years old, she spends every single morning helping out at the plant nursery
“Would you stop a job you really enjoyed?” Parke said.
Her daughter, Sandee Sytsma, said she remembers her parents being at every school event. They were co-
presidents of the Band Parents, Roy was president of the Boosters Club. They were active in whatever the family was doing and they taught their children that family always comes first.
They sat down and had a large breakfast and dinner together every day, all prepared by Parke. She said it was busy, but it was happy having all of her children and their friends around here.
Many of the Florida Strawberry Festival meetings were right there in the Parke’s living room. The door was rarely shut. Parke never cooked or prepared for just her family, she knew when they all sat down for dinner there would be several other faces smiling at her from around the table.
“Every neighbor, every friend, they all wanted to spend their time here because of mother,” Sytsma said. “Our gathering table always had all the Parkes and then whoever else was around. Mom never said a word. She’d just throw another potato in the pot. It was just a fun home and mother was the one that headed the whole thing up. We didn’t know it at the time, but now we sit back and think, ‘How’d she get all that done?’ She worked in the field every day and then came in and pulled all of this off too.”
She was the neighborhood mother. Every child around knew and loved Parke. Sytsma said her older sister graduated in 1963 and she gradated in 1965, but her parents were invited to the 1961 class reunion even though they didn’t have any kids in that class. Parke was a parent to the world.
To this day, when friends of her kids or neighbors get engaged or become pregnant they rush over to Parke’s house to share the news with her.
Just last year she went with the Strawberry Queen and Court to a TV station and the girls were supposed to show how to make a traditional strawberry shortcake. Paul Davis, president of the Florida Strawberry Festival, called out her name and everyone turned to stare. After realizing they had the legendary Helen Parke in the studio the reporter stopped what they were doing and had someone take his photo with her.
For decades she has acted as the behind the scenes force that has spearheaded the entire operation. The story of
the Parkes is unlike many others. She and Roy met in 1943 and were married within five weeks. She was still in high school and working at a five-and-ten store when he and his fellow Army buddies walked in the door. They met and the rest is history.
Watching her parents, Sytsma said they all learned what it meant to have a loving relationship. She said they had date night once a week and her mother would come in from the fields, hit the shower and emerge in her furs and diamonds ready to share a special evening with Roy. They came first to each other and the kids learned first hand how important that was to make a marriage work.
Parke has the entire family over every Monday for a family dinner where an average of 25 people come through the door every week. She is the foundation that holds the family together and her influence has spread to families all across the city.
Every year at the Florida Strawberry Festival you can find Parke sitting with a smile at the Parkesdale Farm booth. Barely a moment goes by that someone new isn’t walking by to hug her neck and say hello. She said over the years she’s watched children grow up and bring their own kids with them to the booth, always stopping to chat with the woman that holds all of their hearts.
“I think I’m helping, but the truth is we’ve had to get others to help at the booth because I’m too social,” Parke said. “I’ve just enjoyed my life. It’s been busy, my word it’s been busy. But I’ve got to spend it loving so many people. It’s been a happy existence.”
