Obituary: Hal Parker, owner of Nyack's Corner Frame Shop, arts and community advocate

NYACK − Hal Parker, a Nyack business owner and village champion for half a century, has died. The owner of the Corner Frame Shop was 74.

Parker was a supporter of local artists and anyone who may be in need, said Phyllis B. Frank, who called Parker "chosen family."

Parker was keen to exhibit local artists' work, Frank said. Back in the 1990s, the two cooked up the idea of a showcase that would help fund a newly forming gay pride event. Parker, she said, wouldn't take a portion of any proceeds. The funding supported Gay Pride Rockland, later called Pride Sunday, and eventually the Phyllis B. Frank Rockland County Pride Center.

Parker's generosity was spread throughout the community, Frank said, adding, "Everyone knew him."

Frank said the respect Parker garnered was evident when they would walk into a restaurant, and everyone from the customers to the owner to those busing the tables would say hello and give him a hug. "Just befriending and supporting and being helpful to the growing immigrant population," she said.

Parker would often connect people in need with agencies or individuals who could help. "His open heart, his respect for and affirmation of people who were struggling to make their way," Frank said, "he was just a genuine friend and support."

His contributions were without fanfare, Frank said. "He's a quiet giver."

Framing a life

Lynn "Hal" Parker was born and raised in Maine. He came to Rockland to attend Nyack College in the '60s to study the ministry. Financially struggling, Parker sought out a part-time job. He found it at Sam's Glass on Main Street, where Patisserie Didier Dumas is now located. The job became a vocation. He struck out on his own.

"I call Hal a true example of a self-made man," Frank said. "He bought a beautiful house on First Avenue in Nyack ... and he really made a life for himself."

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The Corner Frame Shop, most recently located at the corner of Franklin and Depew, had several iterations. When he first opened more than 50 years ago, it was called the Burd House, located on Burd Street in the heart of downtown. It was co-located with Burd House Antiques during the village's heyday as an antique collector's dream. The store moved a few more times, bouncing to locations along Broadway and Main.

Parker could help find just the right frame for anything from a fine painting to a diploma to a vintage poster.

"He touched so many in Nyack and far beyond with his own art form, the perfect frame," Frank said.

Support for arts, community

Every month, The Corner Frame Shop would feature the work of local artists in its "Our Artist of the Month" series. In 2012, after the project to replace the Tappan Zee Bridge was announced, Parker developed a juried art exhibit, "Tappan Zee Bridge Reflections," that showcased the role of the span in shaping Nyack and Rockland County.

He worked on various arts-inspired celebrations and exhibits, including the annual Art Exhibit and Sale to Benefit Rockland County Pride.

Parker was a founding member of the Phyllis B. Frank Pride Center of Rockland.

Paul Wnorowski, a board member of the Pride Center, said he met Hal around 1989. "We became fast friends after that. I didn't know many gay people up here," he said.

Later, during a spate of unemployment, Parker taught Wnorowski the trade. Wnorowski worked off and on at the frame shop. Recently, during retirement, Wnorowski went back to help out Parker at the Corner Frame Shop.

Parker had been a major supporter of pride events, and later the Pride Center, Wnorowski said.

"Here we are without Hal," said Frank, a friend for 30 years. "It's in some ways unfathomable."

A celebration of life will take place from 4-8 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 19, at Hannemann Funeral Home, 88 South Broadway, Nyack.

Nancy Cutler writes about People & Policy. Follow her on Twitter at @nancyrockland. 

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This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Obituary: Nyack arts advocate, philanthropist Hal Parker