Greenwood Pathway House is excited to announce the launch of the Parham Legacy of Care Society that recognizes, honors and celebrates visionary individuals who are making a commitment to the future of our community.
The Parham Legacy of Care Society honors the example set by Dr. Jack Parham and his family. Dr. Parham repeatedly demonstrated how generosity fuels meaningful changes in our community.
The modern understanding of a legacy might be described as the impact a person has on others and the world, including the values by which they lived, the memories they created, and the changes they inspired.
Being much more than material possessions, a legacy embraces the full story of one’s life, the relationships nurtured, and the enduring influence left behind.
Shortly before his death at age 91, Dr. Jack Parham reflected on his own life, saying, “If I could come back, I’d do it all over again—right here in Greenwood, and even if I fail, I would like for it to be said that I tried.”
He indeed tried; at every turn he tried; and he succeeded splendidly. In so doing he left a legacy of care, evidenced by the positive change he created in the Greenwood community because he cared for its people.
Dr. Jack Parham was born on June 16, 1933, in Greenville, South Carolina, graduated from Furman University and completed his medical training at Harvard and the Medical University of South Carolina.
He and his wife, Barbara Holbrook Parham, moved to Greenwood in 1965, where he first entered medical practice as co-founder of Moore, Parham, Schanen and Eichelberger, later establishing Greenwood Women’s Clinic.
In the 1960’s he took decisive action to facilitate access to quality healthcare for all races. Once, as a young OBGYN, his attention to a mother undergoing a dangerous delivery in a substandard hospital lead to his transferring her to a better but segregated hospital, saving her baby’s life and most probably her own.
That bold move served as a catalyst that advanced the road to healthcare equality in Greenwood and ultimately saved countless lives.
He was the driving force that resulted in the first local Hospice care facility, which has blessed the end-of-life experience for so many people and their families.
The United Center for Community Care is yet another product of his generosity and vision for a centralized location where people in need find vital community resources under one roof.
He lovingly nurtured Greenwood Pathway House from its humble beginnings, with only 8 beds for homeless men, into an innovative homeless ministry whose thriving campus now serves many men, women, and children of all ages.
Through Pathway House, hundreds of individuals and families have obtained homes and productive lives, free from the indignities of homelessness, because of Dr. Jack’s leadership and his faithful care.
As a devoted Christian, he blessed his beloved First Baptist Church in myriad ways over the years, and his absence from its halls is often conspicuous—though his presence never was.
In the true spirit of the Gospel’s Good Samaritan, he often provided aid and comfort to seemingly random individuals he encountered, and he did so on occasions too numerous to be known.
Usually at his insistence, there were relatively few plaques and ornamentations erected to commemorate his profound influences, yet his name is written indelibly on the hearts of thousands of people he touched in some form or fashion, always for the better, always with care.
The Parham Legacy of Care Society builds on that momentum by offering you a powerful way to leave a legacy of care, healing, and hope.
Join the Parham Legacy of Care Society by making an annual donation(s) of $5,000 or more to Greenwood Pathway House or the Greenwood Pathway House Foundation.
Your generosity will ripple through our community in an ever widening circle of compassion.
You can make a commitment to the future of our community at https://www.gwdpathway.org/parham-legacy-of-care-society