Respected attorney William Jerry Parker dies Friday at age 74

Published 12:00 am Sunday, January 21, 2007

William Jerry Parker, 74, died Jan. 19, 2007, following a brief illness.

A lifelong resident of Bowling Green, he was the son of the late Rubye Smith and Joseph Burns Parker. Parker was a graduate of Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green College of Commerce and Vanderbilt University School of Law.

He was admitted to the Kentucky and Tennessee bar associations in 1959 and was admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1966. He began his law practice with the firm of Coleman, Harlin & Orendorf, focusing on civil litigation and estate planning. At the time of his death, he was a member of HarlinParker Law Firm. He served on the Kentucky Bar Association Board of Governors from 1969 to 1982 and was state bar president in 1980 and 1981. Parker was chairman of the KBA Continuing Legal Education Commission from 1983 to 1989 and was a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

He had also been a part-time instructor at Western. At the time of his death, he was co-chairman of Albany Bancshares and served on the board of directors for First National Bank of Columbia.

Parker was a lifelong member of State Street United Methodist Church, where he was a past chairman of the board of trustees and administrative council and also co-chaired a major renovation project at the church in 1989. Parker was a director for the War Memorial Boys Club, the Salvation Army Advisory Board and College Heights Foundation at Western.

He served as trustee and co-chair of the building committee for the Bowling Green Public Library in the 1970s. He was an active Rotarian, serving as president of the Noon Rotary Club, district governor for District 6710 of Rotary International, a Paul Harris Fellow and national permanent fund advisor for the Rotary Foundation.

Funeral will be at 11 a.m. Monday at State Street United Methodist Church, 1101 State St. Visitation is today from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Johnson-Vaughn-Phelps Funeral Home at 901 Fairview Ave. and on Monday at the church from 9:30 a.m. until 10:30 a.m.

Survivors include his wife, Eva Jane Martin Parker; two daughters, Jane Beth McCarty and her husband, Matt, of St. Louis, and Jo Lynch and her husband, David, of Knoxville, Tenn.; two sons, William Jerry Parker Jr. and wife Claudia of Colleyville, Texas, and Frederick Smith Parker and his wife, Amy, of Charlotte; nine grandchildren, Currin, Parker and John McCarty; Charlotte, Will and Hayden Parker; Jack Lynch; and Alex and Libby Parker.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be sent to the church at 1101 State Street in Bowling Green; WKU’s College Heights Foundation at 1906 College Heights Blvd. in Bowling Green; or the Rotary Foundation at 14280 Collections Center Dr., Chicago, IL 60693.