She’s Glad to Advertise Her Happy Marriage

Michael Parker is getting to be a familiar face along Newport Boulevard. For the second time in two years, he is smiling down from a billboard on the Costa Mesa thoroughfare.

“I figured once in a lifetime is enough,” Parker said. “I’m beginning to get a little embarrassed.”

The first billboard, a surprise birthday gift from his sister, Kathy Kucera, in January, 1986, proclaimed Parker the “world’s greatest brother.” This time around it is a surprise anniversary present from his wife, Cindy.

“To My Michael, Happy Anniversary! All My Love, Cindy,” reads the billboard at the corner of 16th Street and Newport. The message is accompanied by a wedding snapshot of the couple, blown up to billboard size. The couple’s first anniversary is Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day.

“The first anniversary is supposed to be paper, so I got him the biggest piece of paper I could find,” Cindy Parker said. She has been planning the surprise gift for three months, she said, and managed to keep it a secret until it went up Sunday.

Michael Parker, president of Newport Beach-based Parker North American Corp., which leases banking equipment, found out about the billboard Monday when one of his employees called and told him. Parker called his wife and they went to view the billboard together.

Michael’s gift to Cindy is a Rolls-Royce Corniche. “I think I got the better end of the deal,” she said. “He can only look at his present, but I get to drive mine forever.”

The Parkers found out recently that Cindy is 2 1/2 months pregnant with their first child, and Michael wonders if another billboard is in store. “I hope we don’t have to keep this up when the baby is born,” he said, laughing.

“That’s the problem with this family--everybody tries to top everybody else,” he continued. “I’m halfway expecting to see the Goodyear blimp overhead one of these days, with my name up in lights.”