Vee was life-long collector of butter pats, many of which adorned her kitchen. As retirement came closer, she expanded her collecting into china and small antiques. Vee and Charles, who is also a collector, opened an antique and Western art booth. They started at Forestwood Antique Mall and then at Love Field Antique Mall. They both derived a large amount of enjoyment from stocking the booth by attending estate sales in the Dallas area. However, when Love Field Antique Mall closed, they decided not to continue in the business and sold most of their inventory.
She had a life-long interest in traveling, and was always ready for a trip. Her father and mother were both competitive shooters, so she traveled extensively in Texas and Oklahoma with them (her method of spending time at matches was to collect brass for the reloaders). She had visited all of the continuous 50 states, lacking only Alaska and Hawaii. Canada and Mexico were on her visited list as well. When Eric was in High School, he would spend summers in Texas, and the family decided to visit all the Texas forts. They only missed one (Fort Stockton), but it took three summers. Vee and Charles often took a special trip between Christmas and New Year’s, most notably to the plantation houses. Charles has family in upstate New York, and many happy times were spent in the Finger Lakes area.
Both Vee and Charles were professional storytellers. Besides school, where Vee told often, they performed at campfires, on stages, at storytelling gatherings, in church school and most anywhere they could find an audience. They were active in The Dallas Storytelling Guild and the Tejas Storytellers. They helped with first few Tejas Storytelling festivals in Denton. Vee was always best with the younger audiences – they responded to her as she did to them.
Reading was an important part of her life. She read all sorts of literature even that put out by academics for teacher consumption. Her favorites, by far, were mysteries, especially those by women authors. Later in life, she enjoyed political biographies and essays and the editorial pages of the paper. She was an excellent editor (and speller) as well, and often helped her husband with his literary efforts. She was a strong believer in reading to children, and had a large library of her own of books aimed at Fourth Graders and later First graders. Her educational methods were based on a balance of sight reading and phonics, and she believed both were important. If asked, she would say that reading was the most important skill she could impart to her students, and she was very, very good at it.
Besides teaching, collecting and jewelry manufacture, Vee enjoyed many other interests. First, of course, was her family. She learned hospitality from her mother, Roberta “Meem” Parker. There was always a cookie or a piece of candy available to any child who needed one, hers or not. Vee continued this tradition, with both family and students. The boys each married, and there are seven grandchildren in the family – Scot Jr., Samantha, Brandon, Stephen, Justin, Matt and Alyssa. Vee was also blessed with five great-grandchildren – Aaralyn, Landon, Madison, Abigail and Hailey. Vee loved them all, and thoroughly enjoyed being with them. Sadly, her oldest son Scott, Sr. passed away on July 9, 2005, from cancer.