Dianne Parker (nee Yates) is a Deaconess of the Presbyterian Church of Queensland now in active retirement with many years experience in parish ministry, hospital chaplaincy and aged care ministry. She is married to David Parker.
Dianne gained an L.Th through Melbourne Bible Institute in 1972 and began working with the Presbyterian Church of Queensland (PCQ) in 1973, and was accepted as a Deaconess in 1976. She served in parish ministry in Gladstone, Toowoomba and Bundaberg before coming to Brisbane in 1986 where she initially worked half time at St Paul’s Presbyterian Church, St Paul’s Terrace, Brisbane, and half time at St Andrew’s hospital before becoming full time Chaplain at St Andrew’s Hospital. After the Uniting Church took over the hospital in 2000 she began an Aged Care ministry to all Aged Care homes within a 25km radius of the Brisbane CBD, and to people receiving care packages, which she continued until taking early retirement in 2009.
She has continued her active membership of St Paul’s which was highly appreciated by members.
As well taking opportunities for a speaking ministry, Dianne’s interests also included family history, where the links are in UK and Ireland as well as here in Australia.
Dianne also cared for the Archives of the Presbyterian Church of Queensland, which she began around 2006. The Archives were located at 19 Lang Parade, Milton, Queensland. This work involved accessioning new material, caring for existing records, answering questions, and writing articles on historical topics. The collection no longer exists in its original form.
A special interest area was evangelism in the Queensland Presbyterian church from the beginning of the twentieth century, when Andrew Stewart, a tweed manufacturer from Edinburgh, brought a team of evangelists to conduct Simultaneous Evangelistic meetings throughout Brisbane, and then other areas of Queensland. This was the beginning of a life-
The main records in the collection included PCQ and congregational minutes, parish registers, Assembly documents, church and ministerial fields, newspapers, books, photographs and general files. Some of the material was digitised or microfilmed, and there were electronic and manual indexes. The historical records of the work of the Presbyterian church in aboriginal missions in the north were also contained in the Archives.
Some other projects in recent times were the 150 anniversary of St Paul’s Church and the commemoration of the centenary of the landing on Gallipoli. St Paul’s church held a special service on 19 April 2015 to mark this occasion and also to unveil the honour board from the former Fortitude Valley Presbyterian transferred to St Paul’s for safe keeping.
It is with great sadness that we announce Dianne Joy Parker (Yates) died on Wed 29 May 2019 after a 19 month battle with an aggressive malignant brain tumour, the last three months of which was in palliative care. Dianne was almost 70 years of age. She faced the end bravely, full of faith and died peacefully. The funeral service was on 7 June at St Paul’s Presbyterian Church, Spring Hill, Brisbane.