unique things and the discovery of how they work.
“ He was interested in the way things work almost from the time he was born,” Rozell said.“ He loved to watch the vacuum cleaner and the washing machine; he was interested in barbed wire and anything electrical.”
Rozell shares grandmotherhood with her sister, Trish Helm of Jacksonville. When Helm’ s daughter, Natalee, found out she was expecting, it was not a good time in her life, so the family arranged that her cousin – Paula Rozell’ s daughter and son-in-law, Chris and Corrie Edmondson – would adopt her child.
“ We decided a long time ago, that if we were going to do this, there would be no secrets about it,” Chris Edmondson said.” As a result, Parker Edmondson has always had close ties with his birthmother and her family. He calls her“ Nattie,” and calls Trish and Johnny Helm, Grammy and Big Daddy. He calls his Rozell grandparents, Moo and PawPaw, and of course, he calls Chris and Corrie, Mom and Dad.”
Because both grandmothers – and at least one grandfather- come from a musical background, it seems only natural for Parker to inherit their musical ability, but he thinks his electrical interest comes from Chris, who owns his own electrical contracting business.
His interest in vintage cars began in his teenage years. Chris Edmondson said he bought a car that he intended to give to Parker when he turned fifteen. Instead, Parker begged for a vintage vehicle, and that is when he acquired the Durant.
“ He found the car( online) in Forida, and we had it shipped to Carrollton,” he said.“ He and I would work on it. We took the motor all apart, and I showed him how to work on it. From that point on, he didn’ t need my help,” he said.
The elder Edmondson said they always encouraged Parker to be himself.
“ We never tried to make him fit into a box,” he said.“ He has always been unique. He’ s played piano as long as I can remember. When other kids bang on pianos at three or four, Parker was making music.”
Parker’ s friend, Anna Sanford, said the best things about Parker are his loyalty and helpfulness.
“ If I call him for advice or my car is broken down somewhere, which happens often, he’ s there,” she said. Sanford also dressed in vintage clothing to appear in a YouTube video with Dr. Parkinstine recently, highlighting the 1890s era.
Once his museum is open and his vintage items are unloaded, Dr. Parkinstine also hopes to open a photography studio featuring tintypes. He has already bought a Rembrandt wet-plate camera.
He also hopes others will help to make his dream come true by contributing to a GoFundMe page,“ Help Restore History: Dr. Parkinstine’ s Museum.”
All in all, his focus is to improve the world, to teach and learn as much as he can.
“ My focus is to inspire the world. I like to make people happy, and I want to make the world a better place,” he said.
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