[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 10]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 14096]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO VERNON PARKER

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. TRENT FRANKS

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 22, 2005

  Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, it is my great privilege to rise 
today in support of a statement entered into the Record June twenty-
first by my friend and colleague, Mrs. Musgrave of Colorado, to pay 
tribute to an extraordinary man, Vernon Parker, who is the kind of man 
that represents the backbone of the American way of life.
  Vernon is first and foremost a husband to Sylvia, a father to Jim and 
Joe and a grandfather to Jennifer and Nicholas. He has been a teacher, 
an elementary and junior high school principal and an outstanding civic 
leader. But it was as the school superintendent in Briggsdale, 
Colorado, that our life paths intersected. There were eleven children 
in my third grade class. The entire school system, kindergarten through 
twelfth grade, had only one hundred and two students. In that idyllic 
setting, Vernon Parker made the third grade a special place of learning 
for me. As I look back upon those years, it is easy to recognize that 
Vernon Parker planted more than just a garden we could always find him 
tending. He planted hopes and dreams into the minds and hearts of the 
children of Briggsdale, Colorado.
  As I reflect on the impact that educators have on the lives of their 
students, I think not only of scholastic standards but of their ability 
to instill the invaluable desire to learn--to reach for something 
greater than ourselves. For many years, as a teacher, a principal and 
school superintendent, Vernon Parker touched literally all of the lives 
of the children in the small town of Briggsdale. That is quite an 
honorable legacy in itself.
  Yet we also as Americans owe a debt of gratitude to this man for his 
service to our country in the Korean War where his efforts as a member 
of the ``Wolfpack,'' a special unit which aided friendly North Koreans, 
helped save American lives. He served from 1949 until 1953. He was 
awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action, and during one battle 
he used a bazooka to destroy a Communist North Korean tank. Also in 
that battle, he was wounded by a mortar shell and was awarded the 
Purple Heart.
  When Vernon retired from teaching and then oversight of the school 
system, he opened and ran a small business. He was a member of the 
Lions Club and the V.F.W., a Boy Scout leader and a volunteer fireman.
  Vernon Parker has dedicated his life to public service and most 
importantly to children. I am greatly privileged to count myself among 
those children whose lives he touched and encouraged, motivated and 
disciplined on my childhood journey to that better day in life.
  May God Bless our educators, may God bless our veterans, may God 
bless America and may God bless Vernon Parker!

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