Part of Parker Y-DNA FG#7
JAMES CALVIN "J.C."10 PARKER (JAMES "JIM" EPPS9, JAMES "JIM" H.8, RICHARD7, ELIJAH6, JONATHAN5, RICHARD4, RICHARD3, RICHARD2, WILLIAM1) was born September 26, 1908 in Lodi, Mississippi, and died March 22, 1967. He married WILLE PEARL MURPHY April 12, 1944 in Choctaw Co. Miss., daughter of LUTHER MURPHY and MAGGIE HERSEY. She was born April 25, 1922 in Choctaw Co. Miss., and died September 16, 1954.
James Calvin "JC" Parker 9.26.1908 3-22-1967
by Wayne N. Parker
September 26, 2008 would have been my Dad's 100th birthday. I would like to share some of my memories of him. He was the first born of Jim and Homie Johnson Parker. He was a great Dad, who treated all three of his sons the same, as he had no favorite son. He was always there for us and we knew we could go to him at any time. He would listen to what every ever we had on our mind and answer any questions the best he could. Daddy was both a mother and father to us after Mother died.
Dad was a farmer, logger, share cropper, hobo, carpenter, hunter, fisherman and he love to read anything and everthing that he could get his hands on.
He was a great storyteller and he would Entertain us for hours as we never got tired of hearing his stories. Dad lived to work in our garden, Dr. Middleton had told him to stay out of the garden in 1965 but telling a Parker male to stay out of his garden could start WWIII, as I found out when I reminded Daddy what Dr. Middleton said.
We had grapevines, apples, peaches, plums and figs trees as well as strawberries vines.
Daddy was only 5ft 6in tall but to us three kids he was a giant man because of his love for us and our love for him was always there. He was no saint and he would be the first to tell you that. He taught us right from wrong and that our word was our bond. Dad told us that he had better never ever hear of us starting a fight but also he didn't want to hear about us backing down from one either.
I never thought to ask him how he viewed the fighting between my brothers and I. One summer he did get mad at all three of us, because that year sometimes we got into not only a two way fight but also some three way at the drop of a hat. He told us the next time we got into a fight all three of us would be punished no matter who was at fault. It was very peaceful for a couple of days them I gave James the biggest black eye you had ever seen at 12:00 that day. We knew that we were in trouble then. We spent the next six hours trying to come up with a story (LIE) so we would not find out what the big unknown punishment would be. We told him that James had step on a hoe and that it hit him in the eye. We knew he wasn't going to believe nothing but the truth, but it was the best we could do. He said not a word and we waited and waited for the ax to fall. In fact we waited the rest of the summer but we also quit fighting for the rest of that summer. We never did find out how he was going to punish us and not knowing was the worst punishment he could have gave us. Clyde, James and I were the best of friends and James and I miss Clyde so much. Daddy was a fun person to be around, I think he pulled as many if not more jokes on us than we did on him. Our home was a fun place to grow up in. We all loved to pull jokes on each other and also help each other in times of need. Dad also taught us that sometimes life could and would be very hard but we must never give up trying to do our best.
We lived next door to Granny and Pa Parker and Dad would check on them each day before work and sometime after work as well. Uncle Charley also came by their home each day during the week to check on them. We, as well as our cousins, were taught from an early age a love and respect for our family.
Dad made sure we did our chores around the house, yard and garden and he taught all three of us how to cook. During the week all four of us would cook different meals. On Sundays after we all were teenagers we would cook lunch for him each of us was in charge of cooking our special foods. I can't remember what James and mine were but Clyde's was sweets and bread rolls. Clyde could make the best cakes from scratch and out of this world yeast rolls.
One of our chores was washing and drying dishes. My brothers and I were forever trading this chore between the three of us. The secret was never give up too much to get the other to wash and dry in your place and just how much you wanted to give up so that you would be free to do something else. Dad never got involved in our trading but I have seen him shake his head in disbelief at the trades we would make.
He worked at J.A.Olson Comany in Winona, Montgomery Co., MS for 9 years. They manufactured wooden picture frames and his job was to join the four or more pieces of wood with nails to make a frame. He would make test frames for the sawyer to help them set up their saws so the frames would come together OK on the last corner. They had to have the right amount on spring on the last corner or they would gap open or overlap if too little. He also worked on small orders; repaired old frames and handled special orders. At some time in the late 50's and early 60's worms killed the chestnut trees in American and J.A. Olson wanted to see if they could make frames that would look antique out of the lumber. Bill Lisenbee who was a Vice President was walking the first frame through the plant. He handed Daddy the pieces so Daddy could join them together. Bill got a call to come to the office so he told Daddy to hold on to the frame till he got back. Daddy had seen what the old frames had looked liked before he started to repair them. So he figured he needed to make Bill's frame look old so on went a wasp nest, dirt dodders nest and a spider web. When Dad handed the frame to Bill, his mouth dropped open and he started to say something and then as if a light bulb came on. He said "J.C. that's just what we were looking for." They were still selling that line when I left in 1968.
Daddy made the frames that display some of Mississippi Governors official portrait and later so did I. We would be watching a movie or a show on TV and he would say look at that pattern number so and so on the mirrors or pictures on the wall. He died of emphysema and asthma on March 22,1967, but he lives on in our hearts forever.
My Dog Rusty? by Wayne N.Parker
Rusty came into my life when I was about six weeks old and he was about six months old. He was from a litter that was supposed to have been a full-blooded Collie but his daddy must have been a Border Collie. Since he was a half-breed, Daddy got him cheap, years later I got to meet the man who sold him to my father. When Daddy told him what a good hunting dog Rusty was the man laughed and said, "If I had known that back then I would have charged you more."
I was born in Winona, Mississippi in 1945 then we moved to Arkansas as Clyde was born there in 1948. My first recollections of Rusty began when I was about three. I was walking down our driveway, which was on a small hill, about half down the drive Rusty caught something in his month and the next thing I knew there was part of a snake wrapped around my leg. I let out a loud scream my father ran back up the drive and at the same time my mother ran down the drive. They got the dead snake off my leg I was so glad it was the back half of the snake and not the head. Since Rusty could smell a snake, I came to understand when Rusty's ears and tail got to pointing a certain way to look out for he was about to kill another one. He would grab the snake with his mouth and pop it into, to kill it. I always made sure to get out of his way.
Years later when I was a teenager; I ask Daddy why Rusty hated snakes and why he would kill them that way. He said, "When Rusty was a puppy he was playing with a snake and when it bit him on his lip. Rusty was so mad that he killed the snake." We had a good time playing with each other then when my brother Clyde was old enough to play out side, Rusty would look out for both of us.
Daddy was a hunter and Rusty was not only his hunting dog but also his hunting buddy. All the game Daddy killed, Mother would cook and we ate it. They also liked to go fishing together. I remember watching Daddy come out of the house carrying his 12 gauge long tom shot gun. He wouldn't say a word to Rusty yet Rusty would be up and ready to go. Then other times Daddy would come out with his rubber boots on and stomp his foot and Rusty would bark and run in circles around Daddy then off they would go hunting.
When I started to school the town we lived in was so small that we had to catch a bus to a larger town Rusty would walk me to the only bus stop where all the kids met in the morning. He would meet the bus in the afternoon and walk me home. Some of the older kids would pick on us younger ones, one day I told them that if they didn't leave us alone I would sic my dog on them.
When Mother went to the Post Office that day the lady told Mother what I had said that morning. They both thought that was a good idea, but when my dad heard about it, he pointed out that wasn't the way to deal with the problem. He said, "Rusty would hurt the other kids to protect Wayne." Mom and Dad talked to the other parents and there was no more picking on us younger ones.
When I was six, Daddy took me rabbit hunting; Rusty would get on the trail of a rabbit. You would see him running along following the scent then he would leap into the air to see if he could spot the rabbit running somewhere in front of him. If Rusty could spot him he would leave the trail and go straight for the rabbit. Later Daddy took me squirrel hunting, Rusty would tree the squirrel then Daddy would stand in one spot and Rusty would move that squirrel around the tree till Daddy could kill him.
Some times at night Rusty would go hunting by his self and when he would tree something he would bark a certain way and Daddy would get his gun and go to kill what every Rusty had found. One night about 2 AM Daddy heard Rusty bark and off he went to see what he had found. Mother always locked the door when Daddy would go hunting at night and would only open it when Dad would knock a special way. A while later the knock came, she opened the door and then slammed it shut. She got him a pair of pants and a shirt, opened the door and threw them out onto the porch. The next morning as we awoke we smelled a very bad odor. It seems that just as Daddy raised his lantern to see what Rusty had treed, a skunk raised his tail and sprayed Dad and Rusty. Mother tried every way in the world to get the odor out of his clothes, and then she burned them. It was a while before either of them did any night hunting.
One fall day Mother was looking out the window as she started to laugh, she called Clyde and I to the window. We saw Daddy with a small tree on his shoulder that he had just cut. He was moving it over to the saw buck where he could cut it up for stove wood. There was Rusty on the other end pulling as hard as he could, but Daddy couldn't see him. When Daddy threw the tree down Rusty barked like he was hurt but Daddy couldn't figure out why. When mother told him what Rusty was doing on the other end he then understood why a small tree seemed so heavy. Rusty was just having himself a good time till daddy dropped the tree to the ground.
Rusty and I loved to wrestle each other till one or both of us would get tired.
I loved to go fishing with Mother and Dad. Daddy would cut a limb off of the willow tree attach a line and hook and I would go fishing. One day I just had to set my pole out and leave it out over night like my Dad. The next morning when Dad went to check on his poles, he saw that mine was out in the pond bobbing up and down. When he swam out there was a one and half pound fish on the pole. This pond had an island out in the middle and a duck had a nest on it. Daddy would swim out and get their eggs. It was a couple days later when Daddy and Rusty went back to check on some more poles that he had left overnight. All his poles were still stuck in the bank of the pond and one was bobbing up and only this time when he pulled up the pole there was a snake on it. Now Daddy had a real battle on his hands because Rusty wanted to kill the snake and Daddy didn't want Rusty to get the fishhook in his mouth and Daddy didn't want the snake to bite him. Daddy finally killed the snake this time without Rusty's help.
Years later I asked Daddy what he would have done if my pole would have had a snake instead of the fish. He laughed and said. "I guess the pond would have a new odor in it." Or something like that.
In 1952 my brother James was born in Arkansas and that summer we moved to the Mississippi delta, first to Ruleville, MS then to Greenwood, MS. When we moved to Greenwood, Rusty went to live on my grandparent's farm in Winona, MS. My grandfather would later tell me about how Rusty made the adjustment. He refused to eat; he would lay in the front yard looking for us to come back to get him. Pa and Granny finally got him to eat. Then they got him to go with their dog Jack to help with the cows.
I will never forget the feeling I received the first time we went back to see Rusty. When he spotted us he started to bark and ran around wagging his tail. Then he and I had to wrestle each other.
In the summer of 1953 I spent two weeks with Granny and Pa. They had a dairy farm and I got to see the Border Collie side of Rusty as he helped round up the cows. He seemed so happy doing his new job. In the summer of 1954 we moved back to Winona and then on September 16,1954 Mother died.
The next fall Rusty made his last hunt. Daddy took my brothers and I squirrel hunting. Rusty went slowly ahead of us and barked one time at a tree and then lay down. Daddy was looking up into the tree as he walked around it, then he said, "Rusty you lied because there is no squirrel in that tree." I said, "No he didn't because I see the squirrel." For the squirrel was going one way around the tree as Dad went the other way. Daddy killed him and we had squirrel dumplings that night. Rusty died not to long after that.
Daddy never hunted much after that. I think loosing his wife and then his hunting dog took all the fun out of it. He would go hunting with us a few times before he died on March 22,1967 because that meant he could spend some special time with us. He never lost his love of fishing with us.
I had always thought Rusty was my dog till I was in my 40's, then one day I realized that Rusty was my Dad's dog. I then knew what a privilege and honor that I had been granted to be part of their world.
JAMES CALVIN "J.C."10 PARKER (JAMES "JIM" EPPS9, JAMES "JIM" H.8, RICHARD7, ELIJAH6, JONATHAN5, RICHARD4, RICHARD3, RICHARD2, WILLIAM1) was born September 26, 1908 in Lodi, Mississippi, and died March 22, 1967. He married WILLE PEARL MURPHY April 12, 1944 in Choctaw Co. Miss., daughter of LUTHER MURPHY and MAGGIE HERSEY. She was born April 25, 1922 in Choctaw Co. Miss., and died September 16, 1954.
James Calvin "JC" Parker 9.26.1908 3-22-1967
by Wayne N. Parker
September 26, 2008 would have been my Dad's 100th birthday. I would like to share some of my memories of him. He was the first born of Jim and Homie Johnson Parker. He was a great Dad, who treated all three of his sons the same, as he had no favorite son. He was always there for us and we knew we could go to him at any time. He would listen to what every ever we had on our mind and answer any questions the best he could. Daddy was both a mother and father to us after Mother died.
Dad was a farmer, logger, share cropper, hobo, carpenter, hunter, fisherman and he love to read anything and everthing that he could get his hands on.
He was a great storyteller and he would Entertain us for hours as we never got tired of hearing his stories. Dad lived to work in our garden, Dr. Middleton had told him to stay out of the garden in 1965 but telling a Parker male to stay out of his garden could start WWIII, as I found out when I reminded Daddy what Dr. Middleton said.
We had grapevines, apples, peaches, plums and figs trees as well as strawberries vines.
Daddy was only 5ft 6in tall but to us three kids he was a giant man because of his love for us and our love for him was always there. He was no saint and he would be the first to tell you that. He taught us right from wrong and that our word was our bond. Dad told us that he had better never ever hear of us starting a fight but also he didn't want to hear about us backing down from one either.
I never thought to ask him how he viewed the fighting between my brothers and I. One summer he did get mad at all three of us, because that year sometimes we got into not only a two way fight but also some three way at the drop of a hat. He told us the next time we got into a fight all three of us would be punished no matter who was at fault. It was very peaceful for a couple of days them I gave James the biggest black eye you had ever seen at 12:00 that day. We knew that we were in trouble then. We spent the next six hours trying to come up with a story (LIE) so we would not find out what the big unknown punishment would be. We told him that James had step on a hoe and that it hit him in the eye. We knew he wasn't going to believe nothing but the truth, but it was the best we could do. He said not a word and we waited and waited for the ax to fall. In fact we waited the rest of the summer but we also quit fighting for the rest of that summer. We never did find out how he was going to punish us and not knowing was the worst punishment he could have gave us. Clyde, James and I were the best of friends and James and I miss Clyde so much. Daddy was a fun person to be around, I think he pulled as many if not more jokes on us than we did on him. Our home was a fun place to grow up in. We all loved to pull jokes on each other and also help each other in times of need. Dad also taught us that sometimes life could and would be very hard but we must never give up trying to do our best.
We lived next door to Granny and Pa Parker and Dad would check on them each day before work and sometime after work as well. Uncle Charley also came by their home each day during the week to check on them. We, as well as our cousins, were taught from an early age a love and respect for our family.
Dad made sure we did our chores around the house, yard and garden and he taught all three of us how to cook. During the week all four of us would cook different meals. On Sundays after we all were teenagers we would cook lunch for him each of us was in charge of cooking our special foods. I can't remember what James and mine were but Clyde's was sweets and bread rolls. Clyde could make the best cakes from scratch and out of this world yeast rolls.
One of our chores was washing and drying dishes. My brothers and I were forever trading this chore between the three of us. The secret was never give up too much to get the other to wash and dry in your place and just how much you wanted to give up so that you would be free to do something else. Dad never got involved in our trading but I have seen him shake his head in disbelief at the trades we would make.
He worked at J.A.Olson Comany in Winona, Montgomery Co., MS for 9 years. They manufactured wooden picture frames and his job was to join the four or more pieces of wood with nails to make a frame. He would make test frames for the sawyer to help them set up their saws so the frames would come together OK on the last corner. They had to have the right amount on spring on the last corner or they would gap open or overlap if too little. He also worked on small orders; repaired old frames and handled special orders. At some time in the late 50's and early 60's worms killed the chestnut trees in American and J.A. Olson wanted to see if they could make frames that would look antique out of the lumber. Bill Lisenbee who was a Vice President was walking the first frame through the plant. He handed Daddy the pieces so Daddy could join them together. Bill got a call to come to the office so he told Daddy to hold on to the frame till he got back. Daddy had seen what the old frames had looked liked before he started to repair them. So he figured he needed to make Bill's frame look old so on went a wasp nest, dirt dodders nest and a spider web. When Dad handed the frame to Bill, his mouth dropped open and he started to say something and then as if a light bulb came on. He said "J.C. that's just what we were looking for." They were still selling that line when I left in 1968.
Daddy made the frames that display some of Mississippi Governors official portrait and later so did I. We would be watching a movie or a show on TV and he would say look at that pattern number so and so on the mirrors or pictures on the wall. He died of emphysema and asthma on March 22,1967, but he lives on in our hearts forever.
My Dog Rusty? by Wayne N.Parker
Rusty came into my life when I was about six weeks old and he was about six months old. He was from a litter that was supposed to have been a full-blooded Collie but his daddy must have been a Border Collie. Since he was a half-breed, Daddy got him cheap, years later I got to meet the man who sold him to my father. When Daddy told him what a good hunting dog Rusty was the man laughed and said, "If I had known that back then I would have charged you more."
I was born in Winona, Mississippi in 1945 then we moved to Arkansas as Clyde was born there in 1948. My first recollections of Rusty began when I was about three. I was walking down our driveway, which was on a small hill, about half down the drive Rusty caught something in his month and the next thing I knew there was part of a snake wrapped around my leg. I let out a loud scream my father ran back up the drive and at the same time my mother ran down the drive. They got the dead snake off my leg I was so glad it was the back half of the snake and not the head. Since Rusty could smell a snake, I came to understand when Rusty's ears and tail got to pointing a certain way to look out for he was about to kill another one. He would grab the snake with his mouth and pop it into, to kill it. I always made sure to get out of his way.
Years later when I was a teenager; I ask Daddy why Rusty hated snakes and why he would kill them that way. He said, "When Rusty was a puppy he was playing with a snake and when it bit him on his lip. Rusty was so mad that he killed the snake." We had a good time playing with each other then when my brother Clyde was old enough to play out side, Rusty would look out for both of us.
Daddy was a hunter and Rusty was not only his hunting dog but also his hunting buddy. All the game Daddy killed, Mother would cook and we ate it. They also liked to go fishing together. I remember watching Daddy come out of the house carrying his 12 gauge long tom shot gun. He wouldn't say a word to Rusty yet Rusty would be up and ready to go. Then other times Daddy would come out with his rubber boots on and stomp his foot and Rusty would bark and run in circles around Daddy then off they would go hunting.
When I started to school the town we lived in was so small that we had to catch a bus to a larger town Rusty would walk me to the only bus stop where all the kids met in the morning. He would meet the bus in the afternoon and walk me home. Some of the older kids would pick on us younger ones, one day I told them that if they didn't leave us alone I would sic my dog on them.
When Mother went to the Post Office that day the lady told Mother what I had said that morning. They both thought that was a good idea, but when my dad heard about it, he pointed out that wasn't the way to deal with the problem. He said, "Rusty would hurt the other kids to protect Wayne." Mom and Dad talked to the other parents and there was no more picking on us younger ones.
When I was six, Daddy took me rabbit hunting; Rusty would get on the trail of a rabbit. You would see him running along following the scent then he would leap into the air to see if he could spot the rabbit running somewhere in front of him. If Rusty could spot him he would leave the trail and go straight for the rabbit. Later Daddy took me squirrel hunting, Rusty would tree the squirrel then Daddy would stand in one spot and Rusty would move that squirrel around the tree till Daddy could kill him.
Some times at night Rusty would go hunting by his self and when he would tree something he would bark a certain way and Daddy would get his gun and go to kill what every Rusty had found. One night about 2 AM Daddy heard Rusty bark and off he went to see what he had found. Mother always locked the door when Daddy would go hunting at night and would only open it when Dad would knock a special way. A while later the knock came, she opened the door and then slammed it shut. She got him a pair of pants and a shirt, opened the door and threw them out onto the porch. The next morning as we awoke we smelled a very bad odor. It seems that just as Daddy raised his lantern to see what Rusty had treed, a skunk raised his tail and sprayed Dad and Rusty. Mother tried every way in the world to get the odor out of his clothes, and then she burned them. It was a while before either of them did any night hunting.
One fall day Mother was looking out the window as she started to laugh, she called Clyde and I to the window. We saw Daddy with a small tree on his shoulder that he had just cut. He was moving it over to the saw buck where he could cut it up for stove wood. There was Rusty on the other end pulling as hard as he could, but Daddy couldn't see him. When Daddy threw the tree down Rusty barked like he was hurt but Daddy couldn't figure out why. When mother told him what Rusty was doing on the other end he then understood why a small tree seemed so heavy. Rusty was just having himself a good time till daddy dropped the tree to the ground.
Rusty and I loved to wrestle each other till one or both of us would get tired.
I loved to go fishing with Mother and Dad. Daddy would cut a limb off of the willow tree attach a line and hook and I would go fishing. One day I just had to set my pole out and leave it out over night like my Dad. The next morning when Dad went to check on his poles, he saw that mine was out in the pond bobbing up and down. When he swam out there was a one and half pound fish on the pole. This pond had an island out in the middle and a duck had a nest on it. Daddy would swim out and get their eggs. It was a couple days later when Daddy and Rusty went back to check on some more poles that he had left overnight. All his poles were still stuck in the bank of the pond and one was bobbing up and only this time when he pulled up the pole there was a snake on it. Now Daddy had a real battle on his hands because Rusty wanted to kill the snake and Daddy didn't want Rusty to get the fishhook in his mouth and Daddy didn't want the snake to bite him. Daddy finally killed the snake this time without Rusty's help.
Years later I asked Daddy what he would have done if my pole would have had a snake instead of the fish. He laughed and said. "I guess the pond would have a new odor in it." Or something like that.
In 1952 my brother James was born in Arkansas and that summer we moved to the Mississippi delta, first to Ruleville, MS then to Greenwood, MS. When we moved to Greenwood, Rusty went to live on my grandparent's farm in Winona, MS. My grandfather would later tell me about how Rusty made the adjustment. He refused to eat; he would lay in the front yard looking for us to come back to get him. Pa and Granny finally got him to eat. Then they got him to go with their dog Jack to help with the cows.
I will never forget the feeling I received the first time we went back to see Rusty. When he spotted us he started to bark and ran around wagging his tail. Then he and I had to wrestle each other.
In the summer of 1953 I spent two weeks with Granny and Pa. They had a dairy farm and I got to see the Border Collie side of Rusty as he helped round up the cows. He seemed so happy doing his new job. In the summer of 1954 we moved back to Winona and then on September 16,1954 Mother died.
The next fall Rusty made his last hunt. Daddy took my brothers and I squirrel hunting. Rusty went slowly ahead of us and barked one time at a tree and then lay down. Daddy was looking up into the tree as he walked around it, then he said, "Rusty you lied because there is no squirrel in that tree." I said, "No he didn't because I see the squirrel." For the squirrel was going one way around the tree as Dad went the other way. Daddy killed him and we had squirrel dumplings that night. Rusty died not to long after that.
Daddy never hunted much after that. I think loosing his wife and then his hunting dog took all the fun out of it. He would go hunting with us a few times before he died on March 22,1967 because that meant he could spend some special time with us. He never lost his love of fishing with us.
I had always thought Rusty was my dog till I was in my 40's, then one day I realized that Rusty was my Dad's dog. I then knew what a privilege and honor that I had been granted to be part of their world.
Part of Parker Y-DNA FG#7
JAMES CALVIN "J.C."10 PARKER (JAMES "JIM" EPPS9, JAMES "JIM" H.8, RICHARD7, ELIJAH6, JONATHAN5, RICHARD4, RICHARD3, RICHARD2, WILLIAM1) was born September 26, 1908 in Lodi, Mississippi, and died March 22, 1967. He married WILLE PEARL MURPHY April 12, 1944 in Choctaw Co. Miss., daughter of LUTHER MURPHY and MAGGIE HERSEY. She was born April 25, 1922 in Choctaw Co. Miss., and died September 16, 1954.
James Calvin "JC" Parker 9.26.1908 3-22-1967
by Wayne N. Parker
September 26, 2008 would have been my Dad's 100th birthday. I would like to share some of my memories of him. He was the first born of Jim and Homie Johnson Parker. He was a great Dad, who treated all three of his sons the same, as he had no favorite son. He was always there for us and we knew we could go to him at any time. He would listen to what every ever we had on our mind and answer any questions the best he could. Daddy was both a mother and father to us after Mother died.
Dad was a farmer, logger, share cropper, hobo, carpenter, hunter, fisherman and he love to read anything and everthing that he could get his hands on.
He was a great storyteller and he would Entertain us for hours as we never got tired of hearing his stories. Dad lived to work in our garden, Dr. Middleton had told him to stay out of the garden in 1965 but telling a Parker male to stay out of his garden could start WWIII, as I found out when I reminded Daddy what Dr. Middleton said.
We had grapevines, apples, peaches, plums and figs trees as well as strawberries vines.
Daddy was only 5ft 6in tall but to us three kids he was a giant man because of his love for us and our love for him was always there. He was no saint and he would be the first to tell you that. He taught us right from wrong and that our word was our bond. Dad told us that he had better never ever hear of us starting a fight but also he didn't want to hear about us backing down from one either.
I never thought to ask him how he viewed the fighting between my brothers and I. One summer he did get mad at all three of us, because that year sometimes we got into not only a two way fight but also some three way at the drop of a hat. He told us the next time we got into a fight all three of us would be punished no matter who was at fault. It was very peaceful for a couple of days them I gave James the biggest black eye you had ever seen at 12:00 that day. We knew that we were in trouble then. We spent the next six hours trying to come up with a story (LIE) so we would not find out what the big unknown punishment would be. We told him that James had step on a hoe and that it hit him in the eye. We knew he wasn't going to believe nothing but the truth, but it was the best we could do. He said not a word and we waited and waited for the ax to fall. In fact we waited the rest of the summer but we also quit fighting for the rest of that summer. We never did find out how he was going to punish us and not knowing was the worst punishment he could have gave us. Clyde, James and I were the best of friends and James and I miss Clyde so much. Daddy was a fun person to be around, I think he pulled as many if not more jokes on us than we did on him. Our home was a fun place to grow up in. We all loved to pull jokes on each other and also help each other in times of need. Dad also taught us that sometimes life could and would be very hard but we must never give up trying to do our best.
We lived next door to Granny and Pa Parker and Dad would check on them each day before work and sometime after work as well. Uncle Charley also came by their home each day during the week to check on them. We, as well as our cousins, were taught from an early age a love and respect for our family.
Dad made sure we did our chores around the house, yard and garden and he taught all three of us how to cook. During the week all four of us would cook different meals. On Sundays after we all were teenagers we would cook lunch for him each of us was in charge of cooking our special foods. I can't remember what James and mine were but Clyde's was sweets and bread rolls. Clyde could make the best cakes from scratch and out of this world yeast rolls.
One of our chores was washing and drying dishes. My brothers and I were forever trading this chore between the three of us. The secret was never give up too much to get the other to wash and dry in your place and just how much you wanted to give up so that you would be free to do something else. Dad never got involved in our trading but I have seen him shake his head in disbelief at the trades we would make.
He worked at J.A.Olson Comany in Winona, Montgomery Co., MS for 9 years. They manufactured wooden picture frames and his job was to join the four or more pieces of wood with nails to make a frame. He would make test frames for the sawyer to help them set up their saws so the frames would come together OK on the last corner. They had to have the right amount on spring on the last corner or they would gap open or overlap if too little. He also worked on small orders; repaired old frames and handled special orders. At some time in the late 50's and early 60's worms killed the chestnut trees in American and J.A. Olson wanted to see if they could make frames that would look antique out of the lumber. Bill Lisenbee who was a Vice President was walking the first frame through the plant. He handed Daddy the pieces so Daddy could join them together. Bill got a call to come to the office so he told Daddy to hold on to the frame till he got back. Daddy had seen what the old frames had looked liked before he started to repair them. So he figured he needed to make Bill's frame look old so on went a wasp nest, dirt dodders nest and a spider web. When Dad handed the frame to Bill, his mouth dropped open and he started to say something and then as if a light bulb came on. He said "J.C. that's just what we were looking for." They were still selling that line when I left in 1968.
Daddy made the frames that display some of Mississippi Governors official portrait and later so did I. We would be watching a movie or a show on TV and he would say look at that pattern number so and so on the mirrors or pictures on the wall. He died of emphysema and asthma on March 22,1967, but he lives on in our hearts forever.
My Dog Rusty? by Wayne N.Parker
Rusty came into my life when I was about six weeks old and he was about six months old. He was from a litter that was supposed to have been a full-blooded Collie but his daddy must have been a Border Collie. Since he was a half-breed, Daddy got him cheap, years later I got to meet the man who sold him to my father. When Daddy told him what a good hunting dog Rusty was the man laughed and said, "If I had known that back then I would have charged you more."
I was born in Winona, Mississippi in 1945 then we moved to Arkansas as Clyde was born there in 1948. My first recollections of Rusty began when I was about three. I was walking down our driveway, which was on a small hill, about half down the drive Rusty caught something in his month and the next thing I knew there was part of a snake wrapped around my leg. I let out a loud scream my father ran back up the drive and at the same time my mother ran down the drive. They got the dead snake off my leg I was so glad it was the back half of the snake and not the head. Since Rusty could smell a snake, I came to understand when Rusty's ears and tail got to pointing a certain way to look out for he was about to kill another one. He would grab the snake with his mouth and pop it into, to kill it. I always made sure to get out of his way.
Years later when I was a teenager; I ask Daddy why Rusty hated snakes and why he would kill them that way. He said, "When Rusty was a puppy he was playing with a snake and when it bit him on his lip. Rusty was so mad that he killed the snake." We had a good time playing with each other then when my brother Clyde was old enough to play out side, Rusty would look out for both of us.
Daddy was a hunter and Rusty was not only his hunting dog but also his hunting buddy. All the game Daddy killed, Mother would cook and we ate it. They also liked to go fishing together. I remember watching Daddy come out of the house carrying his 12 gauge long tom shot gun. He wouldn't say a word to Rusty yet Rusty would be up and ready to go. Then other times Daddy would come out with his rubber boots on and stomp his foot and Rusty would bark and run in circles around Daddy then off they would go hunting.
When I started to school the town we lived in was so small that we had to catch a bus to a larger town Rusty would walk me to the only bus stop where all the kids met in the morning. He would meet the bus in the afternoon and walk me home. Some of the older kids would pick on us younger ones, one day I told them that if they didn't leave us alone I would sic my dog on them.
When Mother went to the Post Office that day the lady told Mother what I had said that morning. They both thought that was a good idea, but when my dad heard about it, he pointed out that wasn't the way to deal with the problem. He said, "Rusty would hurt the other kids to protect Wayne." Mom and Dad talked to the other parents and there was no more picking on us younger ones.
When I was six, Daddy took me rabbit hunting; Rusty would get on the trail of a rabbit. You would see him running along following the scent then he would leap into the air to see if he could spot the rabbit running somewhere in front of him. If Rusty could spot him he would leave the trail and go straight for the rabbit. Later Daddy took me squirrel hunting, Rusty would tree the squirrel then Daddy would stand in one spot and Rusty would move that squirrel around the tree till Daddy could kill him.
Some times at night Rusty would go hunting by his self and when he would tree something he would bark a certain way and Daddy would get his gun and go to kill what every Rusty had found. One night about 2 AM Daddy heard Rusty bark and off he went to see what he had found. Mother always locked the door when Daddy would go hunting at night and would only open it when Dad would knock a special way. A while later the knock came, she opened the door and then slammed it shut. She got him a pair of pants and a shirt, opened the door and threw them out onto the porch. The next morning as we awoke we smelled a very bad odor. It seems that just as Daddy raised his lantern to see what Rusty had treed, a skunk raised his tail and sprayed Dad and Rusty. Mother tried every way in the world to get the odor out of his clothes, and then she burned them. It was a while before either of them did any night hunting.
One fall day Mother was looking out the window as she started to laugh, she called Clyde and I to the window. We saw Daddy with a small tree on his shoulder that he had just cut. He was moving it over to the saw buck where he could cut it up for stove wood. There was Rusty on the other end pulling as hard as he could, but Daddy couldn't see him. When Daddy threw the tree down Rusty barked like he was hurt but Daddy couldn't figure out why. When mother told him what Rusty was doing on the other end he then understood why a small tree seemed so heavy. Rusty was just having himself a good time till daddy dropped the tree to the ground.
Rusty and I loved to wrestle each other till one or both of us would get tired.
I loved to go fishing with Mother and Dad. Daddy would cut a limb off of the willow tree attach a line and hook and I would go fishing. One day I just had to set my pole out and leave it out over night like my Dad. The next morning when Dad went to check on his poles, he saw that mine was out in the pond bobbing up and down. When he swam out there was a one and half pound fish on the pole. This pond had an island out in the middle and a duck had a nest on it. Daddy would swim out and get their eggs. It was a couple days later when Daddy and Rusty went back to check on some more poles that he had left overnight. All his poles were still stuck in the bank of the pond and one was bobbing up and only this time when he pulled up the pole there was a snake on it. Now Daddy had a real battle on his hands because Rusty wanted to kill the snake and Daddy didn't want Rusty to get the fishhook in his mouth and Daddy didn't want the snake to bite him. Daddy finally killed the snake this time without Rusty's help.
Years later I asked Daddy what he would have done if my pole would have had a snake instead of the fish. He laughed and said. "I guess the pond would have a new odor in it." Or something like that.
In 1952 my brother James was born in Arkansas and that summer we moved to the Mississippi delta, first to Ruleville, MS then to Greenwood, MS. When we moved to Greenwood, Rusty went to live on my grandparent's farm in Winona, MS. My grandfather would later tell me about how Rusty made the adjustment. He refused to eat; he would lay in the front yard looking for us to come back to get him. Pa and Granny finally got him to eat. Then they got him to go with their dog Jack to help with the cows.
I will never forget the feeling I received the first time we went back to see Rusty. When he spotted us he started to bark and ran around wagging his tail. Then he and I had to wrestle each other.
In the summer of 1953 I spent two weeks with Granny and Pa. They had a dairy farm and I got to see the Border Collie side of Rusty as he helped round up the cows. He seemed so happy doing his new job. In the summer of 1954 we moved back to Winona and then on September 16,1954 Mother died.
The next fall Rusty made his last hunt. Daddy took my brothers and I squirrel hunting. Rusty went slowly ahead of us and barked one time at a tree and then lay down. Daddy was looking up into the tree as he walked around it, then he said, "Rusty you lied because there is no squirrel in that tree." I said, "No he didn't because I see the squirrel." For the squirrel was going one way around the tree as Dad went the other way. Daddy killed him and we had squirrel dumplings that night. Rusty died not to long after that.
Daddy never hunted much after that. I think loosing his wife and then his hunting dog took all the fun out of it. He would go hunting with us a few times before he died on March 22,1967 because that meant he could spend some special time with us. He never lost his love of fishing with us.
I had always thought Rusty was my dog till I was in my 40's, then one day I realized that Rusty was my Dad's dog. I then knew what a privilege and honor that I had been granted to be part of their world.
JAMES CALVIN "J.C."10 PARKER (JAMES "JIM" EPPS9, JAMES "JIM" H.8, RICHARD7, ELIJAH6, JONATHAN5, RICHARD4, RICHARD3, RICHARD2, WILLIAM1) was born September 26, 1908 in Lodi, Mississippi, and died March 22, 1967. He married WILLE PEARL MURPHY April 12, 1944 in Choctaw Co. Miss., daughter of LUTHER MURPHY and MAGGIE HERSEY. She was born April 25, 1922 in Choctaw Co. Miss., and died September 16, 1954.
James Calvin "JC" Parker 9.26.1908 3-22-1967
by Wayne N. Parker
September 26, 2008 would have been my Dad's 100th birthday. I would like to share some of my memories of him. He was the first born of Jim and Homie Johnson Parker. He was a great Dad, who treated all three of his sons the same, as he had no favorite son. He was always there for us and we knew we could go to him at any time. He would listen to what every ever we had on our mind and answer any questions the best he could. Daddy was both a mother and father to us after Mother died.
Dad was a farmer, logger, share cropper, hobo, carpenter, hunter, fisherman and he love to read anything and everthing that he could get his hands on.
He was a great storyteller and he would Entertain us for hours as we never got tired of hearing his stories. Dad lived to work in our garden, Dr. Middleton had told him to stay out of the garden in 1965 but telling a Parker male to stay out of his garden could start WWIII, as I found out when I reminded Daddy what Dr. Middleton said.
We had grapevines, apples, peaches, plums and figs trees as well as strawberries vines.
Daddy was only 5ft 6in tall but to us three kids he was a giant man because of his love for us and our love for him was always there. He was no saint and he would be the first to tell you that. He taught us right from wrong and that our word was our bond. Dad told us that he had better never ever hear of us starting a fight but also he didn't want to hear about us backing down from one either.
I never thought to ask him how he viewed the fighting between my brothers and I. One summer he did get mad at all three of us, because that year sometimes we got into not only a two way fight but also some three way at the drop of a hat. He told us the next time we got into a fight all three of us would be punished no matter who was at fault. It was very peaceful for a couple of days them I gave James the biggest black eye you had ever seen at 12:00 that day. We knew that we were in trouble then. We spent the next six hours trying to come up with a story (LIE) so we would not find out what the big unknown punishment would be. We told him that James had step on a hoe and that it hit him in the eye. We knew he wasn't going to believe nothing but the truth, but it was the best we could do. He said not a word and we waited and waited for the ax to fall. In fact we waited the rest of the summer but we also quit fighting for the rest of that summer. We never did find out how he was going to punish us and not knowing was the worst punishment he could have gave us. Clyde, James and I were the best of friends and James and I miss Clyde so much. Daddy was a fun person to be around, I think he pulled as many if not more jokes on us than we did on him. Our home was a fun place to grow up in. We all loved to pull jokes on each other and also help each other in times of need. Dad also taught us that sometimes life could and would be very hard but we must never give up trying to do our best.
We lived next door to Granny and Pa Parker and Dad would check on them each day before work and sometime after work as well. Uncle Charley also came by their home each day during the week to check on them. We, as well as our cousins, were taught from an early age a love and respect for our family.
Dad made sure we did our chores around the house, yard and garden and he taught all three of us how to cook. During the week all four of us would cook different meals. On Sundays after we all were teenagers we would cook lunch for him each of us was in charge of cooking our special foods. I can't remember what James and mine were but Clyde's was sweets and bread rolls. Clyde could make the best cakes from scratch and out of this world yeast rolls.
One of our chores was washing and drying dishes. My brothers and I were forever trading this chore between the three of us. The secret was never give up too much to get the other to wash and dry in your place and just how much you wanted to give up so that you would be free to do something else. Dad never got involved in our trading but I have seen him shake his head in disbelief at the trades we would make.
He worked at J.A.Olson Comany in Winona, Montgomery Co., MS for 9 years. They manufactured wooden picture frames and his job was to join the four or more pieces of wood with nails to make a frame. He would make test frames for the sawyer to help them set up their saws so the frames would come together OK on the last corner. They had to have the right amount on spring on the last corner or they would gap open or overlap if too little. He also worked on small orders; repaired old frames and handled special orders. At some time in the late 50's and early 60's worms killed the chestnut trees in American and J.A. Olson wanted to see if they could make frames that would look antique out of the lumber. Bill Lisenbee who was a Vice President was walking the first frame through the plant. He handed Daddy the pieces so Daddy could join them together. Bill got a call to come to the office so he told Daddy to hold on to the frame till he got back. Daddy had seen what the old frames had looked liked before he started to repair them. So he figured he needed to make Bill's frame look old so on went a wasp nest, dirt dodders nest and a spider web. When Dad handed the frame to Bill, his mouth dropped open and he started to say something and then as if a light bulb came on. He said "J.C. that's just what we were looking for." They were still selling that line when I left in 1968.
Daddy made the frames that display some of Mississippi Governors official portrait and later so did I. We would be watching a movie or a show on TV and he would say look at that pattern number so and so on the mirrors or pictures on the wall. He died of emphysema and asthma on March 22,1967, but he lives on in our hearts forever.
My Dog Rusty? by Wayne N.Parker
Rusty came into my life when I was about six weeks old and he was about six months old. He was from a litter that was supposed to have been a full-blooded Collie but his daddy must have been a Border Collie. Since he was a half-breed, Daddy got him cheap, years later I got to meet the man who sold him to my father. When Daddy told him what a good hunting dog Rusty was the man laughed and said, "If I had known that back then I would have charged you more."
I was born in Winona, Mississippi in 1945 then we moved to Arkansas as Clyde was born there in 1948. My first recollections of Rusty began when I was about three. I was walking down our driveway, which was on a small hill, about half down the drive Rusty caught something in his month and the next thing I knew there was part of a snake wrapped around my leg. I let out a loud scream my father ran back up the drive and at the same time my mother ran down the drive. They got the dead snake off my leg I was so glad it was the back half of the snake and not the head. Since Rusty could smell a snake, I came to understand when Rusty's ears and tail got to pointing a certain way to look out for he was about to kill another one. He would grab the snake with his mouth and pop it into, to kill it. I always made sure to get out of his way.
Years later when I was a teenager; I ask Daddy why Rusty hated snakes and why he would kill them that way. He said, "When Rusty was a puppy he was playing with a snake and when it bit him on his lip. Rusty was so mad that he killed the snake." We had a good time playing with each other then when my brother Clyde was old enough to play out side, Rusty would look out for both of us.
Daddy was a hunter and Rusty was not only his hunting dog but also his hunting buddy. All the game Daddy killed, Mother would cook and we ate it. They also liked to go fishing together. I remember watching Daddy come out of the house carrying his 12 gauge long tom shot gun. He wouldn't say a word to Rusty yet Rusty would be up and ready to go. Then other times Daddy would come out with his rubber boots on and stomp his foot and Rusty would bark and run in circles around Daddy then off they would go hunting.
When I started to school the town we lived in was so small that we had to catch a bus to a larger town Rusty would walk me to the only bus stop where all the kids met in the morning. He would meet the bus in the afternoon and walk me home. Some of the older kids would pick on us younger ones, one day I told them that if they didn't leave us alone I would sic my dog on them.
When Mother went to the Post Office that day the lady told Mother what I had said that morning. They both thought that was a good idea, but when my dad heard about it, he pointed out that wasn't the way to deal with the problem. He said, "Rusty would hurt the other kids to protect Wayne." Mom and Dad talked to the other parents and there was no more picking on us younger ones.
When I was six, Daddy took me rabbit hunting; Rusty would get on the trail of a rabbit. You would see him running along following the scent then he would leap into the air to see if he could spot the rabbit running somewhere in front of him. If Rusty could spot him he would leave the trail and go straight for the rabbit. Later Daddy took me squirrel hunting, Rusty would tree the squirrel then Daddy would stand in one spot and Rusty would move that squirrel around the tree till Daddy could kill him.
Some times at night Rusty would go hunting by his self and when he would tree something he would bark a certain way and Daddy would get his gun and go to kill what every Rusty had found. One night about 2 AM Daddy heard Rusty bark and off he went to see what he had found. Mother always locked the door when Daddy would go hunting at night and would only open it when Dad would knock a special way. A while later the knock came, she opened the door and then slammed it shut. She got him a pair of pants and a shirt, opened the door and threw them out onto the porch. The next morning as we awoke we smelled a very bad odor. It seems that just as Daddy raised his lantern to see what Rusty had treed, a skunk raised his tail and sprayed Dad and Rusty. Mother tried every way in the world to get the odor out of his clothes, and then she burned them. It was a while before either of them did any night hunting.
One fall day Mother was looking out the window as she started to laugh, she called Clyde and I to the window. We saw Daddy with a small tree on his shoulder that he had just cut. He was moving it over to the saw buck where he could cut it up for stove wood. There was Rusty on the other end pulling as hard as he could, but Daddy couldn't see him. When Daddy threw the tree down Rusty barked like he was hurt but Daddy couldn't figure out why. When mother told him what Rusty was doing on the other end he then understood why a small tree seemed so heavy. Rusty was just having himself a good time till daddy dropped the tree to the ground.
Rusty and I loved to wrestle each other till one or both of us would get tired.
I loved to go fishing with Mother and Dad. Daddy would cut a limb off of the willow tree attach a line and hook and I would go fishing. One day I just had to set my pole out and leave it out over night like my Dad. The next morning when Dad went to check on his poles, he saw that mine was out in the pond bobbing up and down. When he swam out there was a one and half pound fish on the pole. This pond had an island out in the middle and a duck had a nest on it. Daddy would swim out and get their eggs. It was a couple days later when Daddy and Rusty went back to check on some more poles that he had left overnight. All his poles were still stuck in the bank of the pond and one was bobbing up and only this time when he pulled up the pole there was a snake on it. Now Daddy had a real battle on his hands because Rusty wanted to kill the snake and Daddy didn't want Rusty to get the fishhook in his mouth and Daddy didn't want the snake to bite him. Daddy finally killed the snake this time without Rusty's help.
Years later I asked Daddy what he would have done if my pole would have had a snake instead of the fish. He laughed and said. "I guess the pond would have a new odor in it." Or something like that.
In 1952 my brother James was born in Arkansas and that summer we moved to the Mississippi delta, first to Ruleville, MS then to Greenwood, MS. When we moved to Greenwood, Rusty went to live on my grandparent's farm in Winona, MS. My grandfather would later tell me about how Rusty made the adjustment. He refused to eat; he would lay in the front yard looking for us to come back to get him. Pa and Granny finally got him to eat. Then they got him to go with their dog Jack to help with the cows.
I will never forget the feeling I received the first time we went back to see Rusty. When he spotted us he started to bark and ran around wagging his tail. Then he and I had to wrestle each other.
In the summer of 1953 I spent two weeks with Granny and Pa. They had a dairy farm and I got to see the Border Collie side of Rusty as he helped round up the cows. He seemed so happy doing his new job. In the summer of 1954 we moved back to Winona and then on September 16,1954 Mother died.
The next fall Rusty made his last hunt. Daddy took my brothers and I squirrel hunting. Rusty went slowly ahead of us and barked one time at a tree and then lay down. Daddy was looking up into the tree as he walked around it, then he said, "Rusty you lied because there is no squirrel in that tree." I said, "No he didn't because I see the squirrel." For the squirrel was going one way around the tree as Dad went the other way. Daddy killed him and we had squirrel dumplings that night. Rusty died not to long after that.
Daddy never hunted much after that. I think loosing his wife and then his hunting dog took all the fun out of it. He would go hunting with us a few times before he died on March 22,1967 because that meant he could spend some special time with us. He never lost his love of fishing with us.
I had always thought Rusty was my dog till I was in my 40's, then one day I realized that Rusty was my Dad's dog. I then knew what a privilege and honor that I had been granted to be part of their world.
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