Sergeant C.W. Parker

Sergeant C.W. Parker. . I would like to give you a little background on this remarkable man who began his career at Folsom Prison in 1959. He was born on August 5, 1917, seventeen years later Parker joined the Navy in 1934, with his fathers approval. During his service to his country while assigned to the U.S.S. Lexington, she was called the "Lady Lex,” which was damaged during an attack, and suffered several explosions on board and had to be abandoned. Parker was taken prisoner by the Japanese and forced to work the Japanese mines for 3 years and 5 months as a POW. It was with great determination and the will to live that helped him survive this ordeal. He retired from the Navy in 1954, as a Chief Warrant Officer after 20 years of service., The "Sarge,” as many called him was well respected by staff and prisoners alike, always known for his word and being an excellent employee, after 24 years of service at Folsom. His last day of work was August 31, 1982, he was forced to retire on September 1, 1982 from Folsom after his year of service, because at that time it was required of you at age 65 to retire. He then went to work for the next five years as a liquor store clerk in Roseville, California, and then spent another 4 years after that as a bus driver for the city of Roseville. At the age of 76, Parker went to work for the return-to-custody facility for minimum-security prisoners for the city of Folsom located next to Folsom State Prison as a Sergeant. He stated he was a workaholic, because of growing up during the Depression years and his POW days where he had very little to eat and was always hungry, so he worked so he could eat. He was once asked during a newspaper interview, what were his hobbies? He answered, "working is my hobby“. He did like to read, and his favorite author was Louis L'Amour. He had every book L'Amour had ever written, Parker once said I started here and read every book. When I got finished I just started over and read them again and again (as a POW he never got to read so he was always trying to make up for all the reading he had missed)., Parker was well respected while working at Folsom Prison, and known for the way he would stand up to the meanest convicts that called the prison home. He had a reputation of taking care of business, and was generally assigned the problem prisoners to deal with. On one occasion Charlie Manson had been escorted over to the prison hospital for medical treatment, Manson told Parker "I've got the evil eye and I'm going to put an evil spell on you". Parker got up in Charlie's face and looked him straight in the eyes, and asked what's wrong with you. Manson stated, "I'm no longer sick take me back to my cell"., During his colorful career at Folsom, Sergeant Parker met Johnny Cash during a couple of concert tours, Parker was in the prison movie "Reprieve” filmed in 1962. The sergeant made $180 for three days of work on the movie portraying a convict. Parker was also in the movie "The Jericho Mile” filmed in 1979., On the morning of Tuesday, October 12, 2004, at 2:00 AM, Sergeant C.W. Parker passed on to a better place at the age of 87.