I met Don in 1977 as a 12 year old boy.  He was always pleasant and kind.  At 19, after suffering a traumatic injury, Don and Nancy, both, provided vital support to my parents, because that's who they were. When I later bought the house from my parents as an adult, my wife and I both enjoyed our interactions with Don and he became quite fond of Cheryl and she of him.  We laughed for hours at his stories and enjoyed his company greatly.  He was family and will be greatly missed!

MEMORIES by Doug Boren OF MY BROTHER-IN-LAW & FRIEND, DONALD EARL PARKER
Early in Donald Earl Parker and my family's association (May, 1961) my dad had a massive stroke that took his life.  I was at Denton, Texas taking finals my sophomore year.  I had no phone.  Don came to Denton and brought me to the hospital in Sherman where dad lay.
In September of an early college year for me Don and Wayne McCorkle were preparing to go dove hunting at a property that Don arranged.  They invited me and Don furnished a box of birdshot 12 ga. shells to hunt with them.  I still owe Don a box of birdshot shells.
In family meetings Don, Wayne, my brother H.P. and I would often play "42".  Brother-In-Laws played against brothers.  Of course they obviously did not play fair because H. & I could only win a hand occasionally when we played crazy and Don & Wayne couldn't perceive what we held remaining.
While working on a masters degree a college professor assigned the class to solve and turn in a hieroglyphics (to me) math problem.  I had taken trig and algebra my freshman year.  I faxed it to Don Parker.  He worked it in detail and faxed it back.  On the next test the professor gave the class the same problem with different input.  I worked the problem correctly; not understanding it.  The professor met me outside the class and offered to sponsor me in a Ph&!&d program at UNT.
Don played tennis for Gainesville High.  His fast spinning serve was difficult to brake.
For the last 10 or more years Don and I exchanged e-mails that we thought were interesting or made a good point for life,  Don sent one to me about a week before he died.
There were many other interesting times with Donald Earl Parker, my brother-in-law and friend.         

Don and I first met when I moved to OKC in 2002, and I began working with him on publications from 2006-2019.  During this time we published 28 articles, all of which took a lot of time with discussions, emails, and meetings.  All of this research happened AFTER he officially retired from OUHSC, so he was very active in research until just a few years ago.  

Don had many funny quips related to research and statistics with each project, which I think of as "Donisms".  Whenever he was irritated about reviewers not understanding his statistics, he would say that he needed to respond so that he could "educate the heathen".

Other funny non-work related comments/situations were:
- on voting days he would tell me that he had to go to the polls to "cancel Nancy's vote."
- Don was always proud of the South, and would call me a "Yankee" whenever he wanted to put me down.  I would always remind him that the North won, but that didn't seem to impress him.
-  Don told me that when JFK was assassinated, he was scared to leave his home because the description of Lee Harvey Oswald fit him perfectly, and he was living in the Dallas area at the time. He said that his landlady was suspicious of him.
- A little trivia: Don and I attended the second ever home game of the OKC Thunder in 2009.

Don was a great colleague and friend.  My wife and I went to many plays, dinners, and games together with Don and Nancy.  We always had good conversations about sports, politics, etc.  I will miss all of our interactions!

Uncle Don was a character! He was never short on words.  Some of my favorite memories were of him going on a family golfing outing.  He would wear his floppy hat with the tie, a colorful t-shirt, short trousers, and my favorite knee high stockings with three red and blue horizontal stripes!  Also, I would come home at 10:30 on many Saturday nights to Dad and Mom and Uncle Don and Aunt Nancy playing a friendly game of bridge and there was dead silence until all hell broke loose and no one was talking until morning.  This scene seldom changed, but they continued to play for years.  Uncle Don was a big Dallas Cowboys fan who would text me many times during the season with his love/hate philosophy of their performances.  Uncle Don gave himself many titles which included the following: "computers should only be used to crunch numbers said the old guy with a slide rule and a Zippo lighter" "Any mention of me should be as Professor Parker and not Doctor Parker.  All birth deliveries I made involved my pickup and a rope."  When asked about his health, he replied, "I have the usual galloping geriatrics, but doing pretty well for an ex drinker and smoker, and general sinner."  In our last text I asked Uncle Don about his new status of great grandfather he replied, "Yes, I have great grandfather title and still waiting for all that pithy wisdoms that is supposed to come with title."  I loved Uncle Don and will miss his texting and dry sense of humor.  He sent me the following attachment which cracked me up.  

Don was always trying to improve his golf game and frequently blamed his clubs. Sometime after Nancy’s passing he showed up to play in a good mood. I asked what was so good….his reply was “I’ve decided to use Nancy’s clubs. “ I thought that was interesting but why? His reply: “ I rarely beat Nancy on the course so I figured her clubs were better than mine. “

OBITUARY

Donald Earl Parker

August 31, 1932 – April 24, 2022

Baggerley Funeral Home

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