Francis Parker School history

Above: Parker students and teachers at the Mission Hills Campus in 1913.

___. “Where Lessons Come From Real Things: The Parker School in the Open Air at San Diego, California.” The Survey, Survey Association, New York, September 1914.

A memorable one at the time of the Panama Pacific Exposition in 1915 was the model students built of the Panama Canal.

-Mary White, San Diego Union, March 27, 1917

The north wing was built in 1918.

A Christmas play and what were to become traditional, beloved Christmas Story tableaux were the first presentations in the new auditorium on December 19, 1919.

In 1920 a Spanish Pageant, Fiesta and Fair filled the newly enclosed courtyard with scenes of mission life and dancing, while spectators watched from the portico and the roof of the new north wing.

In 1922 the Johnsons’ twenty-seven-year-old niece, Ethel Sturges Durnmer, known as “Happy,” took over as principal-thus continuing the Sturges family influence at Parker.

What was the curriculum actually like during Parker’s formative years? Students from nursery through senior high (until grades ten through twelve were discontinued after the 1929 depression) were nurtured in a rich environment by a faculty committed to the school’s ideals.

Irene Thuli took over as Principal of Parker School in 1930.

Thuli, who fell and broke her hip in the fall of 1932, continued her part in the fight to recruit students and keep the school alive from her bedside in the hospital and then at home.

She served as Parker’s Director until her death in 1938.

Parker had its first high school graduating class since having to eliminate the Upper School program in 1939.

In 1945, Parker established an Endowment Fund Committee that granted $20,000 for campus construction, ensured teacher salaries and pensions, as well as scholarship funds.

The first half of the twentieth century concluded, in 1950, with Mrs.

In 1971, Parker saw an opportunity to meet an increased demand for independent school education in San Diego.

In December 1973, the bank that carried the School’s line of credit failed, and the bank’s successor called in some of Parker’s outstanding notes that had been used to purchase the Linda Vista property.

The School went on to add new buildings on the Linda Vista Campus to accommodate an ever-growing enrollment, including the opening of the Middle School classroom building in 1986.

Throughout 1993, Parker students, faculty, parents and alumni have been celebrating the school’s eightieth anniversary in a year-long series of events and activities.