Harpswell’s eldest resident, Richard Parks, celebrated his 101st birthday a day early last Friday, reflecting on his family and long career as a biologist with the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

Parks, who was born and raised in Plymouth, Massachusetts, is, to his knowledge, is the only person in his family to reach his centennial. Parks graduated from two high schools, with the first one being Plymouth High School in 1942. To avoid the draft, Parks’ parents sent him to Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine, a prep school where Parks completed his postgraduate studies.

Parks would volunteer for the service anyway in 1943, and spent nearly three years in the Navy as a quartermaster on a large landing ship. Parks left for overseas on March 10, 1945, for the last six months of the war during the Pacific Theater. The only action Parks saw was in Okinawa, where his ship landed several Army signal corps companies unloading trucks along with big rolls of wire for communication.

Toward the end of World War II, Parks was heading back to Guam and Pearl Harbor to pick up amphibious tractors (amtracs) and assault troops for the invasion of Japan. However, it never happened, as the Japanese surrendered and WWII ended on Sept 2, 1945.

After Parks left the Navy, he attended Massachusetts State College, which would become the University of Massachusetts while Parks was attending. During his university time, Parks became fascinated by the water surveys done in ponds for Springfield College.

After graduating from the university, Parks moved north to Maine in 1950 to work for the state as a wildlife biologist, primarily focusing on land acquisition and real estate. Parks met his wife, Annie Haskell, through his job in the wildlife research division of Maine.

Parks moved to Ellsworth to manage the wildlife district covering Hancock and Washington counties. However, the district would later split, and Parks would primarily work in Hancock County.

When Parks began at the Inland Fisheries and Game Department, he met Raymond Moss, the Ellsworth warden supervisor, who had a reputation for being a hardworking warden dedicated to land conservation and ran the Warden School at Camp Keyes in Augusta. At the time Parks met Moss, he had eight to 10 wardens working for him.

“I like the contacts of people and hunters that I had, and also I liked the contact of the state employees that I worked with,” Parks said.

A realty division was established within the Inland Fisheries and Game Department in 1970, with Parks placed in charge of all the real estate, operating as a section of the department. Parks dealt with the sale of land for public use.

“We tried four experimental stockings of game while I was working for the department; two were successful and two were not successful,” Parks said.

The two successful species of game were turkeys and geese, with the unsuccessful species being caribou and sharp-tailed grouse. They attempted to release the sharp-tailed grouse in Washington County, but there were so few birds, approximately 20 to 30, that it was insufficient to establish a population.

Parks retired from the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife in 1980 and went on to engage in lobster fishing in Harpswell. Another one of Parks’ hobbies was making wooden birds, along with bird decoys that he would sell at gift shops. He created approximately 1,000 wooden birds over eight years.

When asked about his feelings on living to the age of 100, Parks said he wouldn’t wish it on his worst enemy. He resides at Hill House Assisted Living in Bath.

“I had a long, long life and a very pleasant life,” Parks said. “I have a nice family, and I guess that is all a guy can really ask in life.”