I could have used many symbols besides the Masonic emblem to represent my dad; farmer, bowler, mechanic, but being a Mason was one of his proudest accomplishments.

No child truly knows his parents and I make no claim to really knowing all there is about Elmer. I know he was born in Gaither, Arkansas, a town that no longer exists. Based on the family heritage, there is no explaining how his parents came to name him Elmer Orville. Neither was a family name, at least not in the Parker line. I don't know about the Harris' line.

Dad was the oldest of three boys; Garland Boyd was born in 1911 and Albert Norman in 1913, all in Gaither. At some point between 1913 and 1918, the family removed to Minnesota where Jesse James Parker enlisted in the army to fight in World War 1. This lead to mother Frances Parker returning to Wichita, Kansas (reportedly her father went to Minnesota and got her and the boys). Why Kansas is not clear as her family was in Newton Co., Arkansas. Any way, dad and his brothers were placed in a Catholic boarding school while she went to work and filed for divorce from Jesse.

In 1919, divorce was still a horrible stigma to place on a young woman. That she could keep custody of her three sons was almost unheard of, but she did. After the divorce was granted in 1920, she married her pen-pal, William Curry. They moved to Atlanta, Kansas and lived out their life there.

Around 1935, Dad married Miss Alma Reeves and had three children over the next few years; Margaret, Mildred and Max. Just how Dad supported his family is unclear. We know he disliked farming. We know he worked for a while using a team of Morgan horses to pull a scrapper while building automobile roads in Kansas. We also know that, during World War 2, Dad worked in Witchita building B-29s for Boeing. He worked the graveyard shift so he could care for his three children as Alma was dying of cancer. She passed in late 1944 or early 1945.

Dad immediately began to seek a new wife and mother for his kids from among his co-workers. One women he dated was Mom's roommate; Mom also worked for Boeing. Dad showed up to take his date to dinner but she wasn't available (apparently she was out with another man!) so Dad asked Mom to dinner. They clicked almost immediately and were married December 28, 1945. The war was over, of course, and Dad and Mom had gone to Fayetteville, Arkansas so Dad could meet Mom's parents and for Christmas. It was not a pleasant meeting; Grandpa demanded to know when they were getting married.

Dad replied they would be married the first day it didn't rain. Two days later, it stopped and they immediately sought out the County Clerk and were married.

Dad had found work in Wyoming and there I was born almost a year later. Janice and Judy, my sisters, would follow over the next six years. It wasn't an easy time, those Wyoming years. Dad's old in-laws, the Reeves, declared that it was too much for Mom to be raising a new baby (me!) and three older children. They went to Wyoming and gathered their grandchildren up and took them back to Kansas. It was unfair but not uncommon at the time. But, as each child came of age, they would come and seek out Dad and Mom to re-establish close ties.

Dad followed the trade of mechanic, becoming a master mechanic, specializing in heavy construction. This meant that he had to go where the work was. He got on with Becthel Corporation in Wyoming and went to jobs in Oregon and California. He worked on mines, dams, necular reactors, powerhouses and highways. When Judy, the youngest, began school, Dad declared that we would stay in the same town, Oroville, California, until she graduated. He almost made it.

Dad joined the Masonic Lodge in Fresno, California, sometime around 1960 and rose to the rank of 32nd degree Freemason. He also joined the Shriners and enjoyed that organization's parades and fundraisers to support Shriners' Children's Hospitals.

Dad was also fond of bowling, belonging to a number of leagues. We used to tell our children, when it was thundering and lightening outside, that the thunder was Dad bowling in Heaven and the lightening meant he had gotten a strike (this, of course, was after Dad had died).

Dad suffered a major heart attack in November, 1973. He was forced to retire at 64. His mother, Grandma Curry, came to Sacramento to be sure Dad recovered. Shortly after she returned to Kansas, she was diagnosed with cancer. When she died, Dad went back to Kansas to bury her and see to her affairs. He had a massive, fatal heart attack in the lawyer's office just after signing the final papers to settle the estate.

The doctor told Mom that Dad had suffered a heart attack at an young age, between 1938 and 1941, that had done great damage. Dad had always said he was too old to serve in the war but, perhaps, he was aware that he could suffer another attack at any time. Certainly, he lived his life to the fullest and enjoyed each day.