Florence Parrish-St. John, 30-year Club member, dies at 94

Florence Parrish-St. John, a retired writer, federal agency administrator, and a 30-year member of the National Press Club, died May 28.  She was 94 and had lived in Ft. Belvoir, Va.

Parrish-St. John received multiple Vivian Awards from 1998 to 2003 for contributions to the Club, including chairing the oral history committee from 1995 to 2009 and serving on the events committee.

Born in Greenville, Miss., her career in government included  being assistant director for senior training at national headquarters for the Civil Air Patrol; equal employment opportunity officer for the D.C. Department Labor; bureau chief for complaints processing and adjudication for equal employment opportunity at the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston, Va.; manager of human resources in the Department Interior; international forum coordinator for the President's Committee on Employment of Handicapped in 1985; and commissioner and chairman of the education and cultural affairs committee of the Alexandria (Va.) Commission on Aging from 1985 to 1988.

She also did work for the National Council on Aging and served on and chaired the advisory board for institute conflict analysis and resolution at George Mason University through the 1990s.

She received a diploma in piano from Ward-Belmont College in Nashville in 1945 and a BA in music education from Delta State University in Cleveland, Miss., in 1960.  She earned an MS in counseling from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1971 and a doctorate in human resources from George Washington University in 1983.

She started working as a music teacher in Gulfport, Miss, in 1959 and in the 1960s was a recreation therapist at a Veterans Administration hospital.  In the 1970s, she was an education service officer for the U.S. Air Force in Japan and South Korea.

She had three children by her first husband, Joseph Nathaniel Tucker Jr., who died in 1955.  In 1983 she married Brig. Gen.  Noel F. Parrish, for whom the most prestigious award given by the Tuskegee Airmen Inc. is named.  She presented the annual award recognizing the general's work on desegregation and improving community relations following his death in 1987.

She married Adrian St. John in 1998.  He died in 2008.

Survivors include her sons, Joseph N. Tucker of Dallas, F. Steven Tucker of Bel Air, Md., six grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.  There will be a virtual celebration of her life at a date and time to be determined. If you wish to be included please send an email to [email protected]. Memorial contributions may be made to Tuskegee Airmen, Inc.