Invasion of Privacy: Ward Parker
Most days when students enter lower Mary Jemison after getting their cards swiped, they are greeted by many friendly CAS workers. One of these days, Ward Parker can be seen working at Asada regularly for lunch. He has lived an interesting life and is always ready to make you smile with his friendliness.
Despite living and being in many different places from New York City to Los Angeles, Parker found his home in Geneseo: “I have friends I had planned, and I like it here, and it was reasonable to live, you know. So that’s why I came back to Geneseo, to enjoy my retirement years,” said Parker.
Parker has also worked for movies and media, and even worked at Mogridder's BBQ, which featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives with Guy Fieri. However, as a man of many trades including food service, lighting crew, audio-video crew, and many other adventures, Parker has also done work wiring up the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island among a few places.
When he isn’t working, Ward explained that in his free time, his hobbies include spending time with friends going out to various eateries in the area surrounding Geneseo. He loves playing and teaching guitar, which he has been playing for 14 years.
While Parker wanted one thing in his path with music, it led him to another interesting and adventurous path.
“When I started playing, I was 14 years old; that was way back when the Beatles were big. I was just like, I wanted to be like [them] so badly. I wanted to be a rock star back then. It never materialized, but I did actually get into music. Music brought me into the film industry, actually. As it was, I was trying to make a career in music. I met a couple of people that were wanting to do music soundtracks for the movies, and I ended up meeting people in the movie business. So, I just started work doing that instead of making music.”
Even after retiring, he soon realized that he was bored of the same monotonous routine; as a result, “I was at the [Department of] Motor Vehicle[s] registering my car, and there was a sign in the lobby that said [there was a] job fair in the basement. I went down and there were big banner ads and CAS. I interviewed and they wanted to hire me right on the spot, but I didn’t want to work full time at the time. So, I took a part time job with them, and over time it’s graduated into a full-time job, [and] now [this is] what I do. I worked full time at MJ Asada.”
“You know, I know where everything is [at Geneseo]. I know [and] like how it works. I enjoy…meeting new people and seeing what’s going on with people that are coming up now and going to college and getting started. I’m at the other end of it, and it’s kind of enjoyable.”
When asked where he would like to travel, Parker said, “I’ve been to Europe, but I’m planning on going to Italy. I saved up, but due to COVID, it put a damper on it. I haven’t traveled as much as I wanted to, but I have some plans. I have the money saying I’m gonna go to Italy. I have a buddy of mine who used to be in the movie business with me. He lives in Italy.”
Parker also had some words of advice to students: “Don’t get yourself all caught up in the stress part of being a student. There’s plenty of time to get it all done and enjoy life and have some experiences. Your life shouldn’t be dictated by all these things like work and things you need to do. Take the time to enjoy it, because time goes by so fast.”