Earl Donald Parker

Those men and women who sacrificed everything to save the world during World War 2, then came home and proceeded to build the greatest nation on earth.

And he was a humble man that would have never asked to be credited as such

He was raised on the Oregon Coast in logging camps

He worked with his father in the woods as a very young man

And just before entering the service worked in the shipyards in Portland

My father served in Europe during World War 2 and in Korea during the Korean War.

And most recently worked for 3? years at Continental Can Company in St. Johns retiring in 19??.

He was a stoic man of few words with a good sense of humor

I rarely ever heard my father complain with the exception being his 1974 Chevrolet Vega that had orange paint and fake wood panel siding which he named the Orange Lemon.

He was a man of few words but that did not mean he was quiet......I remember a time when our next door neighbor Bob Mills sounded an air horn to tell his son Johnny it was time to come home......Well my father didn't need an air horn he simply opened the front door and yelled my name.....I can assure you my father's voice traveled farther than that air horn ever could!

My father found great humor in watching the Duke's of Hazzard when they would smash up cars over and over.....He read the paper most everyday and occasionally you would find him laughing out loud after reading a favorite comic strip that struck his funny bone......And in another random moment I remember my Dad got a big kick out of our German Shepherd named Tadpole that would bite at the water as my Dad sprayed it out of the hose.

As a child I remember our father enjoying our annual camping trips at the Oregon Coast and several trips around the Western States traveling to Yellowstone, The Grand Canyon and Disneyland.....After my Dad had retired and us kids were grown he and my mother took numerous trips by car back to Nashville to see the Grand Ol Opry.....As I recall these were some of the happiest days of my father's life.

He loved big band music from the 40's and Country Music

He and my mother were avid Mariner's Baseball and Blazer Basketball fans and would watch games on TV as often as they were shown.

Up until recently my father and mother enjoyed daily walks around the neighborhood......If someone were to guess their last name they would have probably thought it was the Walkers and not the Parkers.

My father was honest, humble and reliable

I never heard my father boast about anything

I never saw him pretend to be something he wasn't nor try to impress anyone

I did see my father go to work 5 days a week to provide for his family

I always sensed that "Home" to my father wasn't an address but where his family was

My mother and father were married for over 47 years.....They kept their promise to love and cherish each other for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.

From my account my father lived a wonderful life

Special note

My wife's adopted father, mother and siblings have made a donation in honor of my father and mother to the Parkinson Disease Foundation.

Written by Geoff Parker