Manella Carol Parker

In the early hours of November 12, 2020, Manella Carol Parker (née Schexnayder) departed this world to make her restful transition to Eternal Life. Manella was born to Alfred and Ruth Schexnayder on August 4, 1943 in Lake Charles, Louisiana. 

Manella attended Sacred Heart Catholic School from the first through the twelfth grade. While at Sacred Heart High School, she earned four letters as a member of the girls basketball team, and she was selected to be Miss Sacred Heart (Homecoming Queen) during her senior year. 

As a young adult, Manella moved from her childhood home in Lake Charles, Louisiana to New York City and began work as a dental assistant. Within two years after graduating high school, Manella married and started a family. For her postsecondary education, she studied in undergraduate programs at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire and later, the University of Houston.

Later, Manella pursued a career in retail sales and worked in multiple department stores located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Chicago, Illinois, and Houston, Texas over a period of more than 40 years. During the course of her career, she attained the position of Buyer for the Joseph Horne Company in the Notions and Novelties Department from 1972 to 1975. Manella was the first African American woman to work in that capacity at Horne’s. At the end of her career, she specialized in the sale of cosmetics and fragrances before she retired from Macy’s, Inc. in 2011.

Outside of work, Manella was involved in civic and community service activities. She was especially fond of her active involvement in Jack and Jill of America, Inc. Notably, Manella was one of the founding members of the North Houston Suburban Chapter. Along with other parents, she was influential in the educational and social development of teenagers in the Houston area. Additionally, Manella served as a volunteer in the City of Houston Office of the Mayor during the Kathy Whitmire Administration.

Manella is survived by her husband of 57 years, Ronald Parker; her siblings, Thaddeus Mayfield, Louise Graves, and Alvin Schexnider; her sons, Brian Parker, Barrett Parker, Bernard Parker, and Brandon Parker; her seven grandchildren, Terah, Paige, Amara, Drew, Fallon, Averie and Bryson Parker, one uncle, two aunts, five nieces, three nephews, several cousins and numerous friends including her lifelong friends since childhood, Judy Berry Spiller and Delores Alex Carter.

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