Forest Avenue High School - Forester Yearbook (Dallas, TX)

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Having been graduated, Mr. Parker entered the newspaper field. He became managing editor of the Lindale Reporter, and later held this same position on the Plainview News. Later Mr. Parker worked in a bank in Hillsboro. His great interest in banking is evident, for he has done much to improve the banking system at Forest. During his spare time our principal finds relaxation in playing golf. He is an ardent foot- ball fan. The Forest Lions always count him their staunch supporter. Probably the greatest interest Mr. Parker has is in the Texas Week Movement. Everyone is familiar with his part in originating Texas Week. At present he is writing a thesis on The Historical Development of Texas Week. When this project is completed, it will probably be published in book form. Mr. Parker has many definite philosophies of life. He believes that an individual should select several fundamental principles as anchors and adhere to them. As his anchors Mr. Parker selects five I's : intelligence, information, initiative, imagination, and industry. Mr. Parker sometimes compares life to a basketball game. On his team he chooses Honesty and Truthfulness in the forward positions. As center, Dependability makes the best player. The Guards in this game are lndustry and Determination. Clear Conscience is always the referee and God is the umpire. Mr. Parker believes that with this team the game of life can always be a successful and a worthwhile one. Our principal offers a challenge to each student to overcome obstacles and make his life worthwhile. He has done this by making his habits and Ways of living such that they will serve as an example to his students. He has never said or done anything which would serve to disillusion those who try to pattern themselves after him. Mr. Parker is always ready to fight for a friend or a principle. He claims that his habit of punctuality, more than anything else, has been helpful in gaining success. When he started to college, he had forty dollars in his pocket. Through sheer strength of character he was able to secure an education for himself. Isn't the portrait of such a man enough to inspire the youth of today? Page Eleven

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I f X 1 X l 4 QQ if WYLIE A. PARKER t mst OUR PRINCIPHL Page T211 As principal ot this school Wylie A. Parker's unusual personality has been instrumental in making Forest what it is today. Nothing is too trivial to receive his attention, no task is too large for him to undertake. Pupils and teachers think of him not as a superior, but as a friend. Mr. Parker's homely philosophies on lite have been an inspiration to students throughout the years. Courteous, gentle, unseltish and sympathetic-it is small Wonder that Wylie A. Parker is loved by all. Mr. Parker began his higher education at the Summer Hill Select School in Smith County, Texas. From there he entered Baylor University, Where he specialized in science, mathe- matics, and languages. Among the languages he studied were Latin, Greek, and German.

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WHAT IS YOUR LIFE WORTH? What is your life worth? . . . This is a good inquiry for you to make into your life, in fact, it will be well for you to ask and answer this question each day of your life. Within yourself, you must remember, you have a world to discover, to explore, and to conquer. This is no easy undertaking, for just as the shifting sheen of the sky hides the stars from instant view, even so the true treasure of your life may be concealed from you at first. You should not forget that depth is the source and secret of life, and that strength and stability are attained by searching beneath the surface. You must remember, also, that your real self is not on the outside, but within your heart, that any permanent progress must radiate from the center toward the circumference of your life. You are not rated by what is on you, or around you, or in your material possession, above position, or wealth, or culture, or genius, is the nobility of character. There is divine meaning in your life, just as there is in the existence of everything else in creation-there are no alternates nor duplicates in Gods planning. Even as the weights of no two pebbles on the beach are equal, it must be remembered that no two lives are of equal worth in the working out of individual principles and possibilities. No life can infringe upon the right-of-way of another in planning, supposing, and being, since the legitimate possessions of no two lives are to be found along precisely the same way. Each life is a monopoly in itself, for to each has been given the sole permission to exercise certain exclusive powers. You will do well to ask yourself such questions as these: What is the meaning of my life? Why have l been given an existence with endowments peculiar to myself? Where is my position and what is my mission in this life about me? Why am l given a lease on life to continue in quest of the things of this world? The Author of your being has made aserious mistake if your life is not of importance and significance and meaning. His intention in giving you this lease on life is of vast concern to you and your associates, and the knowledge of His plan for you ought to be your daily and endless pursuit. lt takes more courage and requires a higher degree of heroism to master the science of self than it does to discover the wealth of the world about you. To view and review your life, to weigh it, to analyze it, to discover the weakness of it, to understand how it should be spent, to examine the cause of its failure, is a difficult task, but none the less a duty. Whoever you are, wherever you are, always be honest enough to become intimately acquainted with your- self. May it truly be said of you: He has made as much out of himself as could be made of the stuff of which he is endowed, and no one can require more. You are to live for the future-live so that your life will not bear its best fruit until after you have passed from the stage upon which you have lived and wrought. Strive not for present praise, but for future fruition. The fame of your name may soon perish, but what you are-the sum total of your beliefs, of your purposes, of your affections, of your tastes, and of your habitshthese you can bequeath to men who will never know you personally. I challenge you to make the earth richer by your having lived on it. l beg you to maintain an uncompromising enmity toward the false, and an invincible friendship toward the true. l implore you to cultivate a practical faith in the living God. Such a course as this for you.r- self will make your activity safer, your scholarship wiser, your life manlier, your joy brighterg and, when the veil is lifted, you will stand erect in the undimmed light of a glorified manhood or womanhood. -WYLIE A. PARKER. Page Twelve