Parker Allen Jarrell

Parker was born to Malcolm and Wanda Jarrell on July 29,1959, in Odessa, Texas… the 7th of their 8 children. He was born with Downs Syndrome, and when the delivery doctor gave Malcolm the news his son would be ‘severely mentally disabled’, the doctor asked “What are you going to do with him?”…Malcolm looked at him incredulously and said, “Well, we’re taking him home, of course!”. And so they did, and what a joy Parker was to his family!

He passed to Eternity December 9, 2022 (age 63) in his sister Paula’s home, who cared for him for the last 10 years or so along with their mother Wanda (age 97 and here today). He was likely in later stages of Dementia.

Malcolm passed-on in 1980, and was a practicing Baptist, and Wanda was and is a devout practicing Catholic born and raised in the east Texas and west Louisiana areas. She took all 8 kids to mass and Catechism every week.

Parker was a bundle of joy from the first day he came home. They say when God closes a door, He opens a window… with Parker he opened all the windows and pulled the roof off… Parker’s Downs Syndrome ‘handicap’ was a huge blessing to his family. We’ve learned so much from him, most notably how he lived in tender and loving ways. Parker was a: peace-maker, music-lover, playful, singer/dancer, kind to-a-fault. He attended ‘normal’ public schooling and graduated high School. His speech was not the best, and was sometimes hard to understand, but we figured it out! Growing up he was teased a lot by others because of the way he looked, but he would not strike back…it was just not in his nature.

Here is an incomplete list of things Parker immensely enjoyed… say these things and watch the people who knew him grow big smiles and nod their heads: Dallas Cowboys, Hamburger and Coke, Barbecue, Wild Wild West, The Three Stooges, MASH, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, July 29th, and Green Tambourine.

Parker’s siblings are: 5 older sisters…Pam, Peggy, Patty, Paula, and Penny, and 2 brothers, Perry and Preston (Preston sadly passed-on early when he was 26). (Yep, all ‘Ps’, just worked out that way after the first 3 girls were named)

We take solace knowing he is now in the Great Unseen playing with his brother Preston while his father Malcolm watches on with proud delight.

Here is a hot-link to a YouTube video of a short home-movie snippet showing him singing and “playing guitar”, and dancing at a family Christmas-time gathering when he was 29 (1988). https://youtu.be/p2lczFz23-U

A graveside service for Parker will be held on Wednesday, December 14, 2022 at 3:30 p.m. at Forest Park East Funeral Home and Cemetery, located at 21620 Gulf Freeway in Webster, Texas.