Goleta Magazine 2017 - 10

We're one of the old
families of Goleta...we love
that our kids have stayed
or come back home."
JACKIE PARKER
Property Owner, Old Town Goleta

W O R K I N G AT L O C A L H O S P I TA L S , days at
the beach, spending time in Old Town Goleta; these activities helped define not only Jackie Parker's family life, but
her daughters' family lives.
Originally from South Dakota, Parker moved to
the Goleta Valley from San Francisco with her late husband,
Robert, in 1964.
Robert Parker became the first surgeon at what is
now Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital and many of the Parker
girls carried on his legacy. Robin Parker Knauss, MD is
an emergency physician and the former chief of staff for
Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital. Karen Parker Carroll is a
registered nurse at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and
Nevin Parker-Pallad was a nurse until she stepped away to
raise her children.

The lifestyle continuity has made Goleta not just a familyoriented place, but one where successive generations can lay
down roots.
"I think you really find that true of the people who live right
around Old Town," Parker said. "We really are old families,
and our kids have stayed here."
"As kids, we used to ride our bikes a lot," recalled Nevin
Pallad, one of Parker's daughters. "Taking the bike trail out
to Goleta Beach and spending time at Tucker's Grove were a
few of our favorite activities."
Nowhere is the continuity strongest than in Old Town,
the area clustered around the stretch of Hollister Avenue
between Fairview Avenue and Highway 217.
In 1979, the Parkers bought the block of buildings anchored
by Domingo's Café from the Terres family, a primary Old

B Y S A M G O L D M A N , N O OZ H A W K S TA F F W R I T E R

GOLETA MAGAZINE

GoletaChamber.com

http://www.GoletaChamber.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Goleta Magazine 2017