Mary Lou Parker thought she’d never leave the “funny farm” — the home in Centreville, Va., where she lived for 40-plus years with her husband, cartoonist Brant Parker.
The funny farm was where Brant drew “The Wizard of Id,” the nationally syndicated comic he co-created with the late Johnny Hart. It was also where the couple hosted parties for their circle of artist friends and raised their five kids.
About three years ago, the Parkers moved to Lynchburg after Brant suffered a paralyzing stroke. He died in April 2007, and Mary Lou stayed in Lynchburg to be close to her daughter.
“I like Lynchburg,” she says. “It’s slower than Northern Virginia. People are friendly. They’ll all smile and say hello if you say hello to them.”
Mary Lou recently moved into an apartment at Bentley Commons senior living. She does not display Brant’s comics, but has his “one and only painting” hanging in her living room: an oil portrait of an Indian woman cradling an emaciated infant, inspired by a Time magazine cover.
The Parkers were married for 60 years. Mary Lou still remembers the night they met in vivid detail.
It was the end of WWII, and Mary Lou, then 23, had just returned to her apartment in Burbank, Calif., after a cross-country train trip. Her friend begged her to go out to their favorite nightspot, The Rosemont Café. Mary Lou reluctantly agreed, and when she got there, spotted a mysterious man at the bar.
“I liked the back of his head,” she says. “He had a gorgeous camel hair coat.”
That night led to a whirlwind courtship.
“I knew he was the one,” Parker says.
Back then, Brant was a budding artist and Mary Lou was a nursery school teacher. She later gave up her job to raise a family and Brant’s comic strip rose to national prominence.
“I knew from the beginning that his art work was No. 1 with him, and it never bothered me at all.”
Brant’s son, Jeff Parker, has penned “The Wizard of Id” since the late 1990s, when Alzheimer’s disease forced Brant to give it up.
In Lynchburg, Mary Lou has had time for her favorite pasttimes: sewing and reading, mostly mystery novels. Though she’s soft-spoken, she loves meeting new people. She leaves her apartment door open during the day, so friends can pass through for a chat.
As for the funny farm, Mary Lou misses it, but says her life is in Lynchburg now.
“There not much reason to go back up there.”
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