Nurse Parker

Alma Primary caregiver calling it a day after 44 years on the job

By Kevin Taylor

Alma Schools

She knows what’s coming, and she’s not here for it. Diane Parker’s been there at the end for others many times.

Goodbye hugs are the things we treasure, except when they are forever.

“I’m already packed up,” Parker said. “I have some days to burn, and I’m going to use them.”

It’s 10:44 a.m. on one of those dreary late-fall mornings. The rain is cool and slow. Parker is reflecting on a life worth living that almost doesn’t seem real.

On Oct. 31, 2025, Diane Parker was scheduled to work her final day at Alma Primary School. “It’s Holloween; how ironic,” she said. “(But) I probably won’t come. I know what personal days are for. I’m a little brittle.”

As the rain fell Tuesday morning, Parker was all but gone. “My office looks like new construction,” she joked. “It’s all bare walls.”

A 1971 graduate of Mountainburg High School, Parker spent 44 years working for Alma Schools. It was her destiny.

“I didn’t get very far (mileage-wise) in life, but I sure turned out happy,” Parker said. “I married Frank Parker on the last weekend of ‘81. He’s still working. I told him, ‘I’m sorry, but I’m pitching it in.’ I spent 12 years as a Dragon, and I was Salutatorian. I always wanted to be a nurse. I got that education and went to work at St. Edwards (now Mercy Fort Smith).”

Parker’s next move, in a strange twist, led her back to Crawford County.

“I went to work for a pediatrician (Dr. John Watts and Dr. Richard Aclin) over on 16th Street,” Parker explained. “I told Dr. Aclin, ‘I cry easily, and told him if you make me cry, I'll want to go home.’ Dr. Aclin was on the school board in Fort Smith, and he told me, ‘You need to be a school nurse.’

“So I did.”

While she was in Fort Smith, and because Alma lacked pediatric care, Parker crossed paths with many of her future students.

"I met a lot of the people I ended up working with," Parker said. "All of our teachers, I was taking care of their kids at the (Fort Smith) clinic, and then I came here, so I already had relationships with a lot of them. But what's happened now is I have had either the parent or the grandparent of the kids who are here now. They (current teachers) sat on my lap. They're (current parents) are like, 'Is Nurse Parker still there? Does she still live in the underground house?' They (parents) can't believe their kids are here with the same Nurse Parker.

"It makes for such great relationships, because I already love the teachers."

Back in 1975, the late Alma Superintendent of Schools Charles B. Dyer hired Shirley Meadors as the district’s lone nurse.

"I used to go to all four schools, and then I pared it down to two schools, and then I pared it down to one school," Parker explained. "I started working in '82. My daughter (Casey Jo) was in the third grade, and I just said, 'Oh, I'll wait until she's done with school. Then she went to college, and I said, 'Well, I'll just stay here, and then she came back as a teacher, and I was reinvested."

Soon, Parker was in the same school building as her grandkids.

"There is always that one grandkid who says, 'You've got to stay here until I get through.' There are always other kids, too," Parker said. "But this year, it just hit differently. I had a little bit of weird vertigo, and then I had eye surgery. I was like, 'Maybe I need to understand this side.’

“I know I always want to be here, but that doesn't mean I always make it here."

Shiny, Happy, (Little) People

Last year, AMS added Pre-K students to the mix. Parker was ready for them. “They're little and loving and needy. I worried about pre-k, and they're just angels. I thought they would be hard, and they've added so much."

APS principal Shawn Bullard will celebrate his 25th year with the school next year. He took over the late Marsha Woolly as principal in 2008.

“Diane was one of the first people I met 25 years ago when I came to Alma,” Bullard said. “She, like many others, was so friendly and welcoming, but to me she has become a lifelong friend that I had the pleasure to be able to work with daily.”

A replacement for the APS position has been selected and will join the team in the coming months. “For me, this was the first time I have ever interviewed applicants for a nurse position,” he said.

"They're (students) bright and happy and have a face full of love," Parker said. "If you can't be happy in this building, you've got something wrong.”

The bounce-around mishap

One rainy spring day in 2014, APS pulled out the bounce around inside the old gym so kids could exert some energy.

It’s a common occurrence throughout America.

At some point, by pure chance, one of Melissa Ellifrits’ kindergartners, named Landon Taylor, had one of his front teeth knocked out. But in the chaos, Parker and art teacher Marla Sutton rolled up their sleeves and dug in.

"I will never forget the day the front tooth came out,” Parker said. “That was such great teamwork. Marla climbed through the bounce-around, followed the trail of blood, got the tooth, I grabbed some milk, Shawn pulled up on the bus drive, and we headed straight to Dr. (Jeremy) Simon. And it stayed in.”

“For over 40 years, she has been the one to treat, comfort, and console students and parents,” Bullard said. “This age group of students is where, unfortunately, health problems are often discovered in children.

“Nurse Parker has been there for so many people when they have gotten the news about a childhood illness.”

Landon Taylor, now a junior, made a full recovery.

"I remember that was like the biggest tooth I ever saw! I was like, ‘This came out of your mouth?’ It would have been a very expensive implant,” Parker continued. “Dr. Simon said, ‘How did you know to put it in milk?’

“I just know these things.”

Goodbye hugs

Leaving can be hard, which is why Parker planned her absences.

“We’ve all been together for such a long time,” she said. “(Bullard) has a very special relationship with me, as does Lacey Thomas, and of course, I love Kara (Burns). She was in the same graduating class as my daughter. We all have a connection. All of his (Bullard's) little girls came through here. They call me on the weekend if they have a problem. You just become family. You don’t get that many jobs where it’s just a warm environment; they (co-workers) care about your problems and we’re all at each other’s weddings and we’re all at each other’s funerals.”

Three years ago, Woolly turned in his keys. He began kidding Parker two years ago about retirement.

“He made it 50 years, and he was kind of giving me grief about staying,” Parker said. “I told him, ‘I just love these kids.’ He said, ‘You need to get out. His leadership and Mr. Dyer’s leadership are unheard of.”

So, what now? Parker said she’ll figure it out.

“I’ll put my big girl pants on and I’ll find something else to do,” she said. “I asked Mr. (Jerry) Valentine, ‘How did you do it (retire)?’ He said I just flipped a switch - ‘I was working, and then I wasn’t.’

“He is more relaxed.”

Soon, Diane Parker will be, too.