WCU dance team coaches create scholarship in memory of former member
Amber Parker
Funny, funny, funny. That was Amber Parker in a nutshell, say those who best knew the vibrant young woman who graduated from Ģš¹ĻŹÓʵapp in 2016 and passed away Nov. 18, 2018, at age 24 from a rare form of ovarian cancer.
Parker, a dancer since childhood in her North Carolina hometown of Denver, was a member of the WCU dance team during her junior and senior years and helped propel the 2015-2106 team to a third-place finish at national competition ā WCUās best showing to date. To honor her big heart and generous spirit, Parkerās former dance team coaches ā Jessica Graning, Lindsi Cauley and Amy Manshack ā created the Amber Parker Memorial Annual Scholarship, which offers $1,000 in scholarship support to a qualifying dance team member each year.
āAmber was full of life. She was so much fun. She always had a joke to tell or something to say that just made you laugh all the time,ā said Cauley, a WCU dance team member and coach, and a 2013 graduate of WCU. āShe was such a hard worker. She never complained about anything we asked her to do. She never hesitated if we asked her to do something. She led the pack with everybody following suit behind her. I truly appreciated that about her, being her coach.ā
Tamia Miller, a sophomore integrated health science major from Charlotte and member of the WCU dance team, is the scholarshipās first recipient. Like Parker, a dancer since childhood, Miller said she was honored to have been chosen for the scholarship because she had heard ānothing but positive thingsā about Parker. āDancing is something I wanted to continue through my college career. It has helped me get more involved with school,ā she said.
Parkerās mother, Kelly, said she and her husband, Tom, naturally were devastated at the news that the youngest of their two daughters had ovarian small cell carcinova of hypercalcemia type. Their oldest daughter is intellectually disabled, so they had to be strong for her while processing their own grief.
āWe knew there were no survivors of this,ā Kelly Parker said. āOur motto throughout the whole thing was āWe laugh, we cry and we know God is with us.āā
Parker spent much time at Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center in Charlotte, alternating between there for chemotherapy treatment, and Duke Medical Center, where she prepared for a stem cell replacement. But to no avail, as the chemotherapy was too much for her and her organs started to fail. She never recovered. āThere were very few days that she was not in a hospital, an infusion center getting fluids or doctorās office getting blood work,ā Kelly Parker said. āThat kid never complained, never refused anything ā and with everything they threw at her.ā
Graning tells a similar story. āNot many people knew this, but she had a pretty significant hip injury she battled for a long time,ā Graning said. āShe was getting physical therapy and still dancing, and so she was always in a lot of pain. Nobody really knew that because she never really let it affect her. She never sat out. She never had a negative attitude or felt bad for herself or anybody else. She always just pushed through it, pushed through the pain, had a smile on her face and had a positive attitude and just worked really hard. That was something I always really appreciated about her.ā
The family responded to Parkerās death by forming Amberās Army ā a group comprised of her dadās golfing buddies and others named after the late golf professional Arnold Palmerās āArnieās Army.ā The term was originally coined after the GIs who started supporting Palmer at the Masterās golf tournament early in his career. Amberās Army sponsored golf tournaments that eventually raised about $22,000, $8,000 of which the Parkers have already donated to Amberās high school for scholarships and to cancer research.
Graning said Parker ā who was a dance squad captain her senior year ā was responsible for setting the tone for the teamās dance that won them third place at its national competition in 2016. The year before, one of their teamās youngest members lost her mother to colon cancer, which was Parkerās first year on the team. In 2016, when the team was planning its routine for national competition, Parker wanted to dedicate the routine to the girlās mother, Graning said. āThe girl was featured and we wore blue, which is the ribbon color for colon cancer. The story we created with that dance was really partly Amber and partly the other captainsā and the coachesā desire to do something to honor this person. Watching that routine was very moving. We got all kinds of awards for that,ā Graning said.
Kelly Parker said it moved her family to hear of the WCU coachesā desire to honor Amberās big heart and generous soul. āIt made me feel proud to be her mom. If Amber made that big of an impact, then the scholarship will help her continue giving back,ā Kelly Parker said. āThatās one of the things we learned after she passed away, was how much she gave.ā
For Graning, knowing someone like Parker, who left an indelible mark on campus, requires others to help sustain her memory. āWhen I think about Western and this place, she was just the epitome of what you would want here,ā Graning said. āShe was just a good person, a good student. People just flocked to her naturally.ā
To make a contribution to the Amber Parker Memorial Annual Scholarship Fund, visit the website .
