Joseph Samuel Parker was born on October 22, 1924 to a single mother.  His young years were very hard, growing up on a family farm in East Texas during the Great Depression.

At 16 years old, he was forced to leave the family. He was taken in by an uncle, who was kind to him.  Then, he moved in with another family to help out.  He was grateful to this family for taking him in and enjoyed his time with them.  Through all these tough times Joe was still able to stay in school and graduated in 1942.

He married young after high school and soon had a daughter named Joyce Marie.  WWII was raging and he was drafted by the army.  He was sent to Camp Roberts in California, 150 miles from Los Angeles.   It took 31 days on a ship to reach Leyte Island in the Philippines.  The ship was being hunted by the Japanese all the while.  Once on the island, his division hunted the Japanese for a year.  Then, the army prepared to invade Japan.  The troops were outfitted to fight in Japan's bitter wintertime.

But, just before they left the Philippines to fight in Japan, the atomic bomb was dropped to end the war.  A couple of days later, Joe's division was sent to occupy Korea.  Shortly after that he was discharged and brought back to Seattle. His marriage ended after the war.

At the age of 24, he married Joyce Okervall. He worked at Pure Oil Refinery until retiring in 1982. Joyce died in 2007 after 58 years of marriage. They enjoyed retirement in Crystal Beach for 25 years. Joe evacuated from Crystal Beach when Hurricane Ike was in the gulf.  He had 3 changes of clothes in a suitcase.  He lost everything.

While at assisted living in Kingwood, Joe was visited by two members of Second Baptist Church.  He looked forward to the visits and enjoyed many hours of long talks.  Because of the friendships that developed and the Lord's grace, Joe made a profession of faith at the age of 88.

Joe was preceded in death by his wife of 58 years, Joyce Marie Parker and a daughter, Joyce Pope.

To cherish his memory, Joe leaves behind his daughter, Linda Luis and husband Phil; daughter, JoAnn Parker; grandchildren: Justin Franks, Emily Baskin, Stefanie Wright, and Steven Schexnayder; six great-grandchildren: Chloe, Isaac, Jacob, Aaron, Levi, and Logan; as well as his sister, Dorothy Cindric.

A time of visitation will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 1st in the Chapel of Ramsey Funeral Home with the funeral service to start at 2:00 p.m. Mr. Parker will be laid to rest at Fairview Cemetery in Winnie, Texas at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 2nd.

You may share a message or memory in the online memorial guestbook at www.RamseyFuneral.com.