Annual 'Spirit of King' awards honors Rob Penny, Constance Parker

THE CONSTANCE PARKER FAMILY, AT THE “SPIRIT OF KING” AWARDS, JAN. 16. (PHOTOS BY J.L. MARTELLO)

The annual “Spirit of King” awards ceremony was held on Jan. 16, at the Kingsley Association in East Liberty, and the honorees were Constance Parker and Rob Penny. As is per usual, they were honored posthumously.

Known as “Connie” or “Jeanie,” Parker was the first Black woman to hold the position of customer engineer with IBM on the east coast. She became one of the most requested customer engineers in the Pittsburgh area. In 1995, she worked at PennDOT as a liaison to then-Governor Tom Ridge. She was an also an active member of several boards including Port Authority of Allegheny County and Duquesne University Advisory Board, and a member of Eastern Star Cyrene #9. Parker was also a life member of the NAACP Pittsburgh Branch, where she rose to the position of president and steered many initiatives. One of her greatest accomplishments was meeting with past owners of Panera Bread to hire and prepare more African Americans for leadership roles in their establishments. After this, Panera Bread became a partner for change to the NAACP Pittsburgh funding several projects including the Human Rights Banquet. Parker died in 2017 at age 74.

THE ROB PENNY FAMILY

Penny “penned” over 30 plays and 300 poems throughout his career. He and his childhood friends founded the Centre Avenue Theater Workshop in 1965. Penny and a childhood friend also established Black Horizons Theatre in 1968, and created the Kuntu Writers Workshop, which provided a forum for the next generation of young writers to publish their work. Penny was honored posthumously in 2008 by Pittsburgh City Council for his commitment to social activism, dedication to helping area youth and his service to the greater Hill District community. Penny died in 2003.