MALVERN — Arkansas State University Three Rivers is honored to announce that the College’s first building endowment, The Parker Family Endowment, is fully funded. The Parker Family Endowment is officially the two-year college’s first endowment to be designated to preserve a campus building.

Established by Byron and Kara Parker Hyatt (daughter of Floyd and Joyce Parker), the endowment will provide upkeep and maintenance of the Parker Family House, located at 1103 North Park Drive in Malvern. Mrs. Hyatt, daughter of Floyd and Joyce Parker, announced the intent of the endowment earlier this year. The house is adjacent to the College campus and was bought by the ASU Three Rivers Foundation in 2018. 

Affectionately nicknamed The Yellow House, for the color of the exterior of the house, the house serves as the location for the Office of College Advancement. In 2021, College administration proposed to the Foundation Board, the Board of Visitors and the ASU System Board of Trustees that the house be named the Parker Family House to honor the Parker Family for their many contributions to the College that began before its inception.

Floyd Parker was instrumental in the founding of Ouachita Vocational Technical School in the late 1960s. In November 1969, Floyd Parker, then President of Malvern Chamber of Commerce, stated in a Malvern Daily Record article, “The school will be an asset to industry in providing more trained people for employment but will also give our young people coming out of high schools in our area an opportunity to get valuable training. There is no way to comprehend the total benefits of such an institution. I am happy to have a small part in trying to achieve this goal”.

Floyd also served as the chairman of the Area Advisory Committee for the Ouachita Vocational Technical School. He served as the Chair of the OTC/COTO Foundation Board of Directors from 2003-12. Floyd and his wife, Joyce, were loyal donors to the Foundation and its efforts. Joyce was the first secretary for OVTS, serving from 1971 to 1985.

Daughter, Kristi Parker Norris was appointed to a seven-year term as a member of the Ouachita Technical College Board of Trustees by then-Governor Mike Huckabee on July 1, 1998, and was reappointed to the Board of Trustees for a second term on July 1, 2005. She served as an active and devoted Board member for the rest of her life, until her untimely death on October 23, 2007.

Kristi was a dedicated and contributing leader among the members of the Board of Trustees, having been elected chair of the Academic Committee of the Board for four and a half years, Vice Chair of the Board for 2003-04, and Board Chair in 2004-05. Kristi also served as a co-chair of the Changing Lives…Building Futures campaign of the Ouachita Technical College Foundation from 2005 until her passing in 2007.

Dr. Steve Rook, Chancellor at ASU Three Rivers, expressed his appreciation to the Parker family, “We are so grateful for the Parker Family’s history of generosity to Ouachita Vocational Technical School, Ouachita Technical College, College of the Ouachitas and Arkansas State University Three Rivers. The Parkers have been valued supporters of the College since there was first talk about the need for a higher education presence in Hot Spring County in the 1960’s.”

If you would like more information on planned giving, establishing an endowment or other ways to support Arkansas State University Three Rivers, contact Childers at 501-332-0234, or amber@asutr.edu.