Newell Parker: Setting Riverside’s Tone for Nearly a Century

Newell Parker started music lessons as a four-year-old in Port Huron, Michigan. Music turned out to be a significant part of the rest of his life, a span of over ninety years.  

Newell was born on June 18, 1894, in Port Huron to George and Nettie Parker. He had two brothers, Russell and Floyd. The young Parker attended Port Huron High School and played the cornet in the orchestra and the city band. He graduated in 1911.

The family moved to Hollywood, California, in 1912, and Newell continued his musical career by studying voice, piano, and organ. He soon held positions accompanying well-known singers at concerts and playing for church services at the First Methodist Church at Sixth and Hill Streets in Los Angeles. 

In January of 1918, Newell Parker made a significant move that would make him famous, at least in Riverside, California, where he relocated and settled.  Frank A. Miller hired Parker to become the organist at Miller’s Mission Inn. Miller added the Cloister Wing in 1910, including the Cloister Music Room with its magnificent Kimball pipe organ.  

On February 13, 1918, Newell Parker married Eileen Smith in the Los Angeles First Methodist Church. Miss Smith also came from Port Huron, Michigan, arriving in California a few weeks before the wedding. The couple were fellow Port Huron High School students, where their romance began. 

The newly married couple stayed for a few weeks in the Mission Inn before moving into a bungalow at 472 Main Street, located between Fifth and Sixth Streets (today, the site of the Riverside Convention Center). By 1923, they had moved into a home at 298 New Magnolia Avenue (the house still stands today at 5390 Magnolia). 

Newell’s position at the Mission Inn was interrupted by service in the army during World War I. He was dispatched to France, where he was part of a glee club that entertained servicemen at one of the large hospitals in France. Upon his discharge in May of 1919, he returned to Riverside and the Mission Inn. He soon performed again in the Music Room and gave private lessons on the Inn’s pipe organ. After the war, Frank Miller held a banquet at the Mission Inn honoring those from the Inn who had served. To commemorate their service, a banner was made with each serviceman’s photo on a star sewn onto the banner. Newell Parker was one of the honorees. 

Newell and Eileen Parker had two sons, both born in Riverside. Newell, Jr. was born on August 19, 1920, and Wayne on June 15, 1922. 

For the next forty-eight years until his retirement in 1967, Newell Parke performed at the Mission Inn and other functions in Riverside, taught lessons instructing a new generation in the love of music, and was active in other service organizations. 

Soon after his return from military service in 1919, Parker became the organist at the First Church of Christ Scientist on the corner of Sixth and Lemon Streets.  Both Mr. and Mrs. Parker were active members of this church.

Parker first accompanied the singing for the annual Sunrise Easter Service on Mt. Rubidoux on March 27, 1921. He and one of his former students, Ben Herbert, played for the 1967 service.  In between, except for three years during World War II when there was no service on the mountain, Parker performed for this Easter tradition that still continues. In addition to accompanying the hymns for the pilgrims who climbed the mountain and the choirs who sang, he also played for many famous soloists who performed for the service. Among those were Marcella Craft, Elsie Younggren Carlstrom, Harry Robertson and Frank Tavaglione. Parker served as chairman of the committee that planned the service for several years.

Parker played for countless performances at the Mission Inn over the years. Concerts, weddings, and the annual Christmas Pageant in the Music Room are just a few events.  He also gave lessons to countless students on this organ. Parker also performed for events at the Municipal Auditorium and various Riverside churches for weddings. 

In 1925, the citizens of Riverside raised funds to erect a memorial to Frank Miller, the Peace Tower and Bridge. For the dedication of this edifice on the mountain, Newell was the accompanist for the assembly, and Miss Elsie Younggren was the soloist. Miss Younggren sang “The End of Perfect Day,” the song written by Carrie Jacobs Bond, at the Mission Inn after a trip up Mt. Rubidoux.  

On June 15, 1935, Frank A. Miller, the Master of the Inn and the man who brought Parker to Riverside, died. Parker naturally served as an organist for the funeral service in St. Francis Chapel at the Mission Inn. A few months later, at sunset on September 22, an outdoor service was conducted on the summit of Mt. Rubidoux, the site of the annual Easter services begun by Miller. For this service, Newell Parker played the piano. At both services, the assembly sang “In the Cross of Christ I Glory,” Miller’s favorite hymn, which was regularly sung for the Easter service. Parker had the privilege of serving as an accompanist for both of these services to honor Miller. 

Among other organizations that Newell Parker was active with were the Riverside Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, Charter member of the Riverside Musicians Association, Riverside Rotary Club for twenty-seven years, President of the Riverside County Council of Boy Scouts of America for five years, Director of the Drum and Bugle Corps for American Legion Post No. 79, life member of Riverside Community Players, member of the Elks Lodge and member of Evergreen Lodge No. 259. 

After retirement, the Parkers sold their Riverside home and moved to Leisure World in Laguna Hills.  Eileen Parker died on April 4, 1979, in Orange, California, followed by Newell on March 17, 1988, in El Dorado, California. Newell Parker, Mission Inn organist and Riverside musician, left an enormous legacy of musical performances in Riverside.