Who Is Constance Parker Graham?

Several months ago someone asked the question on aolanwers.com, “Who is Constance Parker Graham”? To date I don’t believe anyone has answered the question. Most likely because the poet Constance Parker Graham actually doesn’t exist. It’s a fictitious name. And there’s probably no better authority on the subject than yours truly. You see, Constance Parker Graham was created/founded by me, Jim Plesh.

Back in the mid-seventies I was hired by Paramount Greetings as VP Creative Director, with the mandate to improve their creative operations, product lines and sales performance. I did just that with creativity and innovation. Many new concepts and creative properties emerged to generate sales and better recognition of the Paramount Card lines. One such addition was Words from the Heart by Constance Parker Graham. I was aware of the huge sales Gibson Greetings was enjoying with the then very popular inspirational poet Helen Steiner Rice. It was obvious to me that Paramount needed its own competing version of Helen Steiner Rice. 

Over lunch with then president Jimmy Winston and sales VP Ray Coskery, I mentioned my plan to introduce a new line of inspirational cards titled “Words from the Heart,” written by poet Constance Parker Graham. They had the same question as aolanswers.com: “Who is Constance Parker Graham”? When I indicated it was a fictitious name I created, with some laughter they asked how I came up with the name. My birthing of the name was quite simple: I wanted a name I considered studious, almost matronly: Constance.  Then the middle name was to be recognizable, something to do with writing: at the time Parker Pens were popular, hence Parker. Then the last and crucial name, Graham. My thought was, what better name symbolized inspiration than Billy Graham? Thus the poet came to life: Constance Parker Graham.

So there you have it. After giving me a bit of a hard time and enjoying a few more laughs at my expense, they agreed we should give it a go. Long story short, the card line caught on, enjoying immense popularity. Paramount made millions of dollars on the creative property Words from the Heart by Constance Parker Graham. I managed to get a bonus out of it, a two-week paid vacation to Hawaii for my wife and me. Today Paramount no longer exists; however, Constance Parker Graham does. Hallmark acquired the rights to the property and continues to give life to her and her words from the heart.

Incidentally, the actual writer of the first issues of inspirational messages by Constance Parker Graham was our then editor in chief, Dolores Riccio, an exceptional writer/poet in her own right. As the collection grew, several other talented writers contributed outstanding inspirational messages as I’m sure is the case today.