Vernon James Parker

Vernon James Parker, 80, formerly of Asheville, died Monday, February 23, 2004, in Brooklyn, NY. Mr. Parker was born July 24, 1923, in Asheville, the son of the late William Kyle Parker and Lillian Callahan Parker. He graduated from Canton Public Schools and Blanton’s Business College. He served with the Army Air Corps (Air Transport Command) in the China-Burma-India theater during WW II. Following his military service he was trained in movie theater management and assisted in management of the Imperial, Plaza and Paramount Theaters and managed the State and Isis, all in Asheville and managed the Strand Theater and assisted with the Colonial Theater in Canton. Mr. Parker moved to the Chicago area in late 1951 where he worked in the transportation and export field, continuing to do so after moving to Brooklyn, NY in 1974. He was executive secretary of the Brooklyn Heights Association in 1984, and joined the Great Bridge Publishing Co. (now named the Brooklyn Eagle Publications), publishers of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, The Brooklyn Record, the Brooklyn Heights Press and other local newspapers. His popular column “On This Day in History” appeared daily in the Eagle for a number of years. While in Asheville, Mr. Parker was ne of the charter members of St. George’s Episcopal Church in Malvern Hills in 1950. In Brooklyn he was an active parishioner at Christ Episcopal Church in the Cobble Hill area, serving as its treasurer and member of the Bishop’s Committee for over ten years. He was the recipient of The Bishop’s Cross for Parochial Service in the Diocese of Long Island which cited him for his volunteer work at St. John’s Home of the Aged in Brooklyn. He is survived by several cousins in Asheville, Raleigh, Knoxville, Greenville, SC, Atlanta and Jacksonville, FL, and by his companion since 1965, Ted Hallas of Brooklyn. Graveside services will be 3:00 pm Wednesday at Green Hills Cemetery with the Rev. Fr. Harry Woggon officiating.