Celebrating Pine Islanders: Irene Parker
Irene Parker said if there was only one thing she could tell people about her, it would be how much she loves Pine Island — although she has only been here since 2021.
“What I’d like islanders to know is that I love the way the island is. I don’t want to change anything about it. I can’t say enough about Pine Island,” she said.
Parker explained that she has never lived anywhere else where she has found the people as friendly as the island, which she described as wonderful, adding that she feels like she should have been here her whole life. She moved to Pine Island from Las Vegas in September 2021.
“We were leaving Las Vegas and looking for our next spot and my partner, Charlie Hill, circled Pine Island on Google Maps and I found our house,” Parker said.
She said after having formally looked at five houses, they made an offer on their house and bought it. After they saw it in August, they were living in it one month later.
The move to the island has brought Parker to the realization that she has become a part of the community, in ways such as making friends at the grocery store, which she said has not happened in any other place for her.
An artist, she has fallen in love with the ospreys, so she takes photos of them.
Parker added that her love for the island has taken shape in many different ways, one of which has been serving on the board of the Saint James City Civic Association for several years.
“I was vice president while we had to fix our house. I fixed the website and started a GoFundMe for the septic that crashed during one of the floods, and I had them start Bingo,” she said.
If Parker had to describe Pine Island to someone who is unfamiliar with it, she said she would say it is a slice of paradise. But every once in a while, it might try to kill you, with hurricanes or floods or all the consequences of a storm like the size of one such as Hurricane Ian.
“I know people who moved near here after Hurricane Ian and there were no leaves left on the trees. I think Pine Island is idyllic — all the trees and all the birds — it’s paradise,” she said.
If Parker had only one wish for Pine Island, she would want it to resist change as much as possible.
“I want us to keep the special quality that we seem to have here. My wish would be that it stays like this,” she said.
To learn more about her or her artwork, visit IreneParker.com.
To reach PAULETTE LeBLANC / pleblanc@breezenewspapers.com, please email