James "Jim" Parker
CHAPEL HILL — James Howard "Jim" Parker, 93, of Carolina Meadows, died Sunday morning, March 11, 2018 at UNC Hospital.
He was born on Sept. 2, 1924, in Tarboro, the son of the late James Howard and Rosa Fleming Parker. He was a graduate of Tarboro High School and a 1949 graduate of the University of North Carolina.
He served three years in the U.S. Army during World War II, including 18 months in Europe with the Ninth Infantry Division, where he was a squad leader and earned a Purple Heart.
Following military service, he enrolled at UNC and graduated from the school of Journalism in May, 1949. He went to work for the Chatham News in Siler City, remaining there until 1966. During that time, he served as news editor of The Chatham News and editor of its sister publication The Liberty News.
In July 1950, he married the former Hallie Stewart McLean of Lenoir. The couple lived in Siler City until 1966, when they moved to Clinton, where he became editor and publisher of The Sampsonian. In 1976 The Sampsonian merged with The Sampson Independent, of which he also served as editor and publisher. In 1978-79, he was elected President of the North Carolina Press Association, having previously been vice-president and a member of the board of directors. He also served a term as director of the Journalism Foundation of UNC and was chairman of both the Chatham County and Sampson County library boards.
After retirement in 1986, Jim and Hallie moved to Micaville, in Yancey County. For the next eight years, Jim operated Parker's Antiques in downtown Micaville.
A Presbyterian by marriage, he served as an elder in the Siler City, Clinton and Burnsville churches and also served five years as clerk of the session in the Burnsville church.
In 2001, Jim and Hallie were honored by their daughter Stewart with the establishment of the James H. and Hallie McLean Parker Professorship at the School of Journalism at UNC-CH.
He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Hallie McLean Parker, of Carolina Meadows, Chapel Hill; two daughters, Hallie Stewart Parker of Chapel Hill and Livingston, Montana, and Edith Parker of Iowa City, Iowa and husband David Cohen; three sons, James H. Parker III and wife Jane Yokoyama of Asheville, David McLean Parker and husband Robert Huls of Chapel Hill, and Michael Fleming Parker and partner Maud Casey of Saxapahaw and Austin, Texas; two grandsons, Samuel Kazuo Parker of Carrboro and David Michael Akiyoshi Parker of Berkeley, California; two granddaughters, Emma Catharine Parker of Durham, and Hallie Grace Huls of Chapel Hill; and a sister-in-law, Ruth Parker of Siler City.
He was preceded in death by his parents, two brothers, and five sisters.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 16, at the main auditorium at Carolina Meadows Retirement Community, 100 Whippoorwill Lane, Chapel Hill, N.C. 27517.
In lieu of flowers, you are welcome to make a donation in his memory to TROSA (www.trosainc.org) or North Carolinians Against Gun Violence (www.ncgv.org).
