A Little History

In the office I picked up a copy of Rev. Allen E. Parker’s short book “Eighteen Years in Woodstock: 1922 to 1939.” It covers the years that he served as principal of Woodstock School. During his time there was a great expansion of the school. New buildings included the Community Centre, Community Hospital, Tehri View, Principal’s Cottage, additions to the Quad, Hostel, the “new” school building (I think it is the current high school), and other cottages on the hillside. More boys were added to the student body, making it a fully co-educational school.

The work on a new auditorium was begun before the Parkers left for a furlough in 1923. While he was gone they decided to name it for him. He served on many boards, including Wynberg School (during its merger with Allen), Kellogg Church, Community Hospital, Union Church, and Mussoorie Book Society.

During his 1932 furlough he studied the adjustment problems of children of missionaries. This early work foreshadowed later studies on Third Culture Kids. Many things changed at the school: “Some people wanted a purely American School at once, like Kodaikanal, and some wanted our school to turn into such a school gradually… We knew that if this [happened] we would lose our best Anglo-Indian and Indian staff as well as students. We felt that exclusion was not a good policy for the school, [and that] all groups working together would mean the most to the school. This would be a school where all races and nationalities could mix and work together.” This philosophy still guides Woodstock today.

Twice Rev. Parker traveled to the Tehri area to visit Pauri, which was the home area of many of the school employees. The first time he went alone on a horse and the second time his wife and three daughters accompanied him.

A humorous story he tells is when he worked with scouting at the school before becoming principal. He arranged a camping trip for the young boys. When he arrived at the school, he found the matrons had loaded them all up in dandies. As soon as they got around a curve away from the matrons, they all got down and walked. And this was for a camping trip to Jabarkhet!