[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 194 (Wednesday, November 29, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1617]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      RECOGNIZING MRS. ADDIE RUTH FOX PARKER ON HER 100TH BIRTHDAY

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                       HON. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 29, 2017

  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
recognize the birthday of Mrs. Addie Ruth Fox Parker, who will be 
turning 100 years old on December 14, 2017.
  Mrs. Parker was born on December 14, 1917 in Jacksonville (Calhoun 
County), Alabama and reared in their home located on the fringe of the 
town square. Her father was Cassie Fox, a businessman and landowner and 
her mother was Jennie Taylor Fox, a school teacher. She is a graduate 
of Cobb High School in Anniston, Alabama and Alabama A&M College (now 
Alabama A&M University) in Huntsville, Alabama, where she played tennis 
and sang in the choir. Divorced with a daughter, she then married Rev. 
(Pastor) Joseph C. Parker, Sr. on July 28, 1951, in Anniston, Alabama 
and remained married until his death in 1987. Her husband was a pastor, 
civil rights leader, teacher, principal, faculty member at the 
Birmingham (Alabama) Baptist College, and Church Relations Director at 
Bishop College in Dallas Texas. He also served as pastor of churches in 
Jacksonville, Anniston, Montgomery, and Birmingham, Alabama, as well as 
Fort Worth and Dallas, Texas, where she served with him as the pastor's 
wife and occasional pianist, starting in 1951.
  Resident of DeSoto, Mrs. Parker has been a Texas resident since 1972 
and is a member of the Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. 
She retired from a decades-long elementary school teaching career, 
having taught in Alabama and Texas.
  While living in Montgomery and Birmingham, Alabama in the late 1950s 
and 1960s, she served in the Alabama Civil Rights Movement as a 
dedicated and hard-working confidante, partner, participant, and 
supporter of her husband--Rev. Joseph C. Parker, Sr.--who was a 
founding pastor, servant, racial justice advocate, and leader of the 
Alabama Civil Rights Movement, starting in 1955 with his involvement in 
the Montgomery Bus Boycott; Montgomery Improvement Association; 
Montgomery Inter-denominational Ministerial Alliance (Secretary); 
NAACP; Selma to Montgomery Marches; the Birmingham civil rights 
protests; and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and 
alongside her husband's Morehouse college friend, Dr. Martin Luther 
King, Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, and Rev. Ralph D. 
Abernathy, Sr. and his wife, Juanita Jones Abernathy.
  Mrs. Parker's children, grandchildren, other family members, friends, 
colleagues, and acquaintances use these words to describe her qualities 
and attributes that they believe have contributed to her wonderfully 
successful life and career--character: strong Christian faith, 
integrity, commitment, and action; personality: warm, compassionate, 
giving, loving, determined spirit, lively, and humorous; and 
intelligence: has had and still possesses a keen mind.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask Congressman John Lewis and Congresswoman Terri 
Sewell and all my colleagues to join me in congratulating Mrs. Addie 
Ruth Fox Parker on this remarkable milestone. I wish her a special day 
shared in the company of her family and friends and all the best in the 
years ahead.

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