Pia Rengers Parker, beloved wife of the late Dean Harrison Parker (1938-2018) and mother to John, Kedron, and Elske, passed away on November 12, 2024, surrounded by her family. She was 86 years old.
Pia was known as an independent and gregarious spirit, with a bold sense of style, quick wit, a playful sense of humor, an inner strength, and generosity for the people she loved. She had a true joy of life.
She was born Baroness Pia Petronella Adriana Elske Van Welderen Rengers on 24 April 1938 in Rotterdam, Netherlands, to parents, Baron Willem Carel Gerard van Welderen Rengers and Baroness Catharina Maria van Welderen Rengers.
Her early childhood was framed by World War II, the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands and the Dutch famine. She always credited her parents (and especially her father, an officer in the Dutch Army Aviation Brigade) with spiriting her out of Rotterdam as a 2-year-old, the day before the German Luftwaffe bombed the city into rubble. She recalled the sport of smuggling food from house to house, watching her mother outsmart Nazis who knocked at their door, and learning to tell time from Peter, one of a number of Jewish people who took refuge in the family attic. Despite the country’s tough times during and after the war, she had many fond memories of Holland and living in Heemstede, exploring the countryside with friends and cousins, skating on the canals in winter, and riding horses.
In 1952, her family followed the post-war Dutch migration to Canada, where she attended Sacred Heart School in Winnipeg and enjoyed skiing and volunteering at the local Eaton’s parade. She briefly married and immigrated to the USA in 1956, living in Alexandria, Virginia, where she welcomed her first child, John. She and John later joined her parents, who had resettled in Portsmouth, Virginia, where she raised John and enjoyed working at the Old Dominion University Library. It was there where she met a young colleague of her father, named Dean Parker, who became instantly enamored with her.
Pia and Dean courted amongst a vibrant and creative Colley Avenue scene of Norfolk, Va., in the late ’60s. They married in 1969, and Pia, John, and Dean moved to Graydon Avenue in West Ghent, where in 1970, daughter Kedron was born, followed by a second daughter, Elske, in 1976.
Pia gained credentials in real estate and in due course opened her own business, Pia Parker Realty, and subsequently worked part-time as an agent for William E. Wood and Nancy Chandler. She pursued creative interests, including sketching and photography, and worked out of her own darkroom at home. She was active in civic activities, serving on the board of the D’Art Center and was also active in the Ghent traffic safety committee, which contributed to the groundwork of the Elizabeth River Trail.
In the 1990s, Pia and Dean retired to Mathews County, Virginia, in a home that she and Dean built on Queens Creek. Together with Elske, she started her hobby business called “Pia Rocks,” making bold-statement necklaces with semi-precious stones which she wore every day. Pia once again became active in the local community, volunteering for the local Animal Care’s Potpourri Shoppe.
Pia made numerous adventures with Dean and family in Washington, D.C., and holidayed frequently at the family’s Watergate apartment. In her later years, she continued to travel up to New York City, relishing the buzz and fanfare of all the city had to offer.
Pia’s entire family extends their heartfelt gratitude to her caregivers, Terri Wilson and Joyce Cosby, who helped Pia to live independently, surrounded by joy and friendship.
She leaves behind a large loving family, John M. Parker and his wife Allison Parker of Norfolk Va., Kedron Adriana Parker of Wellington New Zealand, Elske Caroline Marie Parker and her husband Peter Cammarano of Hoboken, N.J., and grandchildren, William Harrison Parker, Elske Parker Whaley, Ateo Buhne, Nico Buhne, Lorenzo “Cheech” Buhne, and Elske “Biscuit” Cammarano.