Mary picked Yellowstone National Park, ….

Mary picked Yellowstone National Park, David picked The Mint in Denver, Colorado, and Don picked the Mammoth Caves National Park in Kentucky.

The family settled in Fountain Valley. Lew and Alma opened Parker Printing, an offset print shop in the early 1970s. In 1976, they sold the business and moved to Corvallis, Oregon, where they started another print shop. They lived in Corvallis for more than 25 years before moving to Leisure World.

Lew says that his favorite memories are from his time in Corvallis because it was “a small town, but not too small.” He and Alma made lifelong friends. They enjoyed going to hear music at Oregon State University. They started a recycling program and were active in a “Beyond War” group and the Rotary Club.

They traveled the world from the former Yugoslavia to the jungles of Nicaragua and particularly enjoyed Elderhostel Tours (now known as Road Scholar).

While living in Corvallis, Lew and Alma became close friends with Aline Zhang and her two small children, Jing and William. Jing and William have families of their own now and consider Lew and Alma to be their adopted grandparents. William named his daughter, born in January, “Alma,” saying, “If the baby was a boy, his name would have been ‘Lew’.”

Alma died in April 2019. Lewis continues to live independently, saying he’s learned to be “a pretty good microwave chef.”

He enjoys keeping up with current events, Zooming daily with several Leisure World groups and Facetiming weekly with his son David and his grandsons Daan and Sam in The Netherlands.

He loves going out to breakfast at Denny’s with his California family, especially when his grandchildren Katy and Steven Parker are able to join him.

Katy describes her grandfather as “intelligent and modest with a playful sense of humor.” Steven says whenever the family is together, his grandfather “always says or does something to make everyone laugh.”

Lew’s son David says his father “remains full of curiosity and interest in the world and his family. He’s very interested in politics but somehow remains calm and balanced despite all the polarization of our society these days.”

If you ask Lewis how he is doing, he will always say “I’m upright.” Staying upright are excellent words to live by.

Happy 100 years, Lewis!