Temple Furniture has been and will continue to be a family affair

Dec 16, 2023

In 1962, Cecil Parker of Maiden was working as an upholsterer for a furniture manufacturer in Hickory. His wife Mossie was working at a textile mill. What Cecil really wanted was a business of his own – be his own boss. Cecil and Mossie likely had several conversations on the topic; probably made a list of pros and cons; counted their pennies; considered how, when, and where a business could begin; and prayed.

It was decided they’d rent a building where Cecil would reupholster furniture, and Mossie would sew and take care of office matters. Sons Gary, age 20 at the time, and Tony, who was 18, were plenty old enough to come on board and help out.

On Cecil’s last day of employment at the Hickory plant, he walked out the door, looked up, and saw Temple Baptist Church. Feeling inspired, Cecil decided the name of his company would be Temple Furniture.

You’re probably thinking, “I didn’t know that” about the furniture manufacturer that’s been at 102 S. 7th Ave. in Maiden for years.

Recently, two of Cecil and Mossie’s grandchildren, Adrian Parker and Kim McRee, welcomed me into Temple Furniture’s office building. We gathered in Adrian’s workspace to talk about Pop and Mamaw, their names for Cecil and Mossie, as well as other aspects of the 61-year-old furniture manufacturing concern.

Adrian and Kim said their grandparents had lots of business when they opened Temple Furniture in 1962, enough that just two years later, they were able to buy a structure. Interestingly, they bought East Maiden Baptist Church’s sanctuary, which was for sale due to the church having built a new sanctuary. So, the name came from a Baptist church, and the enterprise was moving into another Baptist church. Adrian called Pop “a very blessed man,” saying, “He did a lot of praying.”

Temple kept growing.

“[Pop and Mamaw] started developing their own styles,” said Adrian, “all upholstered.”

They sourced fabric and wood from Catawba County and surrounding counties. Tony, Adrian and Kim’s father, and their uncle, Gary, worked for Temple. Tony worked in the plant every day, reupholstering and then building furniture. Gary became the business’s salesman. Said Adrian, “He went to every local furniture store, trying to push his family’s product.”

In 1972, the Parkers sold the sanctuary (the current location of Burke Mortuary) and built their first metal building, which is still used today for manufacturing. “The factory portion [of Temple Furniture],” Kim pointed out.

Around that time, 10-year-old Adrian got off the school bus at the factory and helped out wherever he was needed. Kim and Angie did the same. “All the grand kids,” said Kim. They swept, loaded trucks, made buttons, and so forth. “I loved to make buttons,” said Kim, explaining that she put fabric on one side of a little machine – an air press – and a small metal disk on the other side and then pushed an air pedal with her foot. The result was an upholstered button – one at a time.

I asked Kim if she ever messed up. She smiled and admitted that, yes, she occasionally, accidentally created a button unworthy of placement on a Temple Furniture product. Fortunately, her young fingers never got caught in the button maker.

Adrian wanted me to know that their dad, Tony, did not make his children work; they wanted to, and to this day, the memories of it make the siblings smile. They said they got an allowance – well, sort of. Maybe some money, possibly a trip to the fish camp, or perhaps a Moon Pie and Coke.

Then Adrian and Kim expanded their horizons for a while. After high school graduation in 1984, Adrian joined the Army National Guard and then continued with Temple. “I started selling in Georgia and Alabama,” he said, adding that he preferred factory work but wanted to learn all aspects of the business.

While still in high school, Kim worked in a retail clothing store. After graduation, she attended UNC-Charlotte, earned a degree in marketing, and then went to work for Temple.

In 1991, Adrian and his wife Lori founded Parker Southern. “Everything Dad didn’t build, we built,” said Adrian, offering 18th-century reproductions as an example. “They were popular in the early 90s,” he explained. Parker Southern manufactured dining room chairs, bar stools, upholstered beds, and so on. Lori managed the office. Now she works in marketing.

When Tony died in 2013, the family merged Temple Furniture and Parker Southern.

You might be wondering about Cecil and Mossie. Both died in 2011: Mossie first and then Cecil eleven days later. Their grandchildren believe he died of a broken heart. Five days after Cecil’s death, Gary died. It was a miserably sad year with more grief heaped on when Tony passed on a couple years later.

But the family persevered. Today, Adrian is CEO. Kim is vice president. They have what they described as “a loving brother-sister relationship.” After talking to them and watching them, I’d call it an enviable connection, one that any company would pay dearly to have in its top two officers.

Additionally, Adrian’s twin sister Angie Wright works as Temple’s designer, and the siblings’ first cousin Rebecca Parker is the fabric manager.

Bringing up the rear while simultaneously securing the family’s future in the furniture manufacturing business are Adrian’s son Joshua Parker, who works as shipping manager at Parker Southern, and Jake McRee, who works in product development.

Temple Furniture surely has been and will continue to be a family affair, but it’s the treatment of non-related employees as kinfolk that keeps the company well-staffed. “They’re all family,” Adrian emphasized.

Flexibility and product development also have aided the business, even when challenges threatened, such as manufacturing going overseas. Kim said, “We prayed a lot.” And then, as Adrian pointed out, they “got into the custom business.” Whatever particular item a customer wanted, even one she designed herself, Temple obliged and built it.

“That’s what changed in ’08,” said Adrian. “Customization. Higher-end fabrics. Customer designs.”

Now, Temple offers lots of choices for every feature of a sofa, for example. The shopper picks and chooses, assembling a blueprint for a piece of furniture.

And, of course, Temple continues to build furniture it designs. The company has products in about 600 independently owned stores in the U.S. Twenty-five sales representatives are on the road across the country, doing what Gary did when he was a young man: pushing the family’s product. Helping with sales is Temple’s 2022-formed online business Mantle.

Including all divisions, Temple employs about 150 people.

So, with all that Maiden-made furniture all over the country, it’s not surprising that Temple Furniture has enjoyed a share of claim-to-fame moments. One came in the 1990s when Pope John Paul II visited the United States. Through one of its customers, two of Parker Southern’s 18th-century reproduction chairs found themselves available for the Pope “to sit on,” as Adrian pointedly suggested. The Pope did indeed sit on one. The customer photographed the Pope speaking at a podium. In the background were Parker Southern’s chairs.

A second claim-to-fame moment has presented itself more recently. “Right now we’re doing the “Yellowstone” [TV series] collection,” said Adrian. The customer, Green Gables Furniture in Indiana, for whom Temple is building the specially-designed assortment of furniture, is licensed with Paramount. Adrian described the pieces as “high-end western ranch look. Lots of leather and fabrics.”

Pop Cecil had a dream and a strong work ethic. Four generations later, the dream and the attitude are alive and well.

Story suggestions are appreciated. Email Mary at [email protected].

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