Black Athletes in the Spotlight: HBCU Sports & Local Highlights
LOWELLVILLE, Ohio (WKBN) – Every Friday, a group of nuns hits the links at Knoll Run Golf Course in Lowellville, Ohio. This past weekend, one of those golfers turned 105.
On Sunday, September 21, Sister René Parman celebrated her 105th birthday. And a few days before, she honored the occasion the same way she has for decades: with a round of golf. Her fellow sisters from Humility of Mary were with her.
“It’s a wonderful place to be — very meditative,” said Sister René. “It’s a beautiful place — grass, flowers and it’s quiet.”
Sister René began the process of becoming a nun right out of high school when she was 18. She then spent many years teaching in schools across northeast Ohio. It wasn’t until she reached her 40s that she took her first-ever golf outing.
“I drove the cart and they said to me, ‘Why don’t you take a chance, just think about doing it yourself?’ There, I shall. What do I do? They said, ‘Hit the ball.’ That was my only instruction that I ever received,” Sister René said.
But it was all she needed. From then on, Sister René fell in love with the sport. Through the 80s and 90s, she started golfing with a few of her friends every Friday. And to this day, it’s their weekly tradition.
“When we rode together, she was educating me on what I should be doing and let me know how to hit the ball,” Sister Barbara Noble, her friend and golfing companion, told Nexstar’s WKBN. “It was pretty special because she had the experience.”
Sister René is now legally blind and has dealt with a few injuries, but she hasn’t let that take her away from the course.
“[My friends] are kind enough to golf with me and tell me where my ball is when I get there. They tell me how far it is to the hole, and I use that club. Without them, I could not golf,” Sister René said.
“She’s a great role model for all golfers,” Sister Millie Ely said. “To me, it proves how long you can golf and do it as a sport. And she practices every day. She takes Wiffle balls and hits them with her clubs, so she works at it every day.”
Sister René said this could be her last golf season before she hangs up the clubs, but her friends said they don’t believe she would ever go through with it.
“They call me and say, ‘Let’s go.’ I love it. I love to do it, and I think it’s wonderful exercise. It’s the one thing that kept me going as well as I have,” Sister René said.
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