Obituary of Louis Lowrance Parker

Louis Lowrance Parker, Sr. passed away at the age of 90 on November 5, 2021, at the Olive City Care Home, Corning, CA.  Louis (Lou) was born on May 16, 1931, in Sulfer, Oklahoma to Douglas and Dora Parker. Louis touched many people’s lives and will be deeply missed.  Surviving family include Anita  Pullin (Jeff) of Chico, Cherry Jensen of Utah, Patricia Davidson of Chico, Louis Parker, Jr. (Kelly) of Chico; grandchildren (spouse (great grandchildren)), Jessica Ross (Shawn (Austin, Carli, Noah, Brittany, & Shawn)), Alyssa Wolverton (Nick (Kristina Quentin, Jasper, & Henry)), Rianna Sondergard (Nick (Rylan & Jacob), Jamisson Parker (Natalie (Rhett & Georgia)), David Jensen (Rachel (Adam)), Isaac Jensen (Misty), Mark Jensen (Melanie (Malakai & Lacey)), and Todd Jensen (Maggie (Charlie)).

Louis spent his last months at the Olive City Care Home in Corning, CA.  His caretakers, Tess and Eric, treated him with dignity, respect, and love.  His family will always be grateful that they came into his life.

Louis bears two proud names that date back to the Indian Territory days of Oklahoma.  Born in 1931, early in the Great Depression, he never knew the glory of the Lowrance Ranch during the days before Statehood, when it was one of the largest and most powerful spreads in the west.  His mother, the eldest granddaughter of the founder, W.B. Lowrance, married the son of a respected Chickasaw leader named Parker. Young Louis grew up in both worlds.  He was educated at the Jones Academy Indian Boarding School in Eastern Oklahoma and then the Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas.  During the final days of the depression, he followed the dust bowl survivors to California.  There he lived with the migrant workers…the Okies…who were the subject of John Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath”.

Louis grew to manhood early, and at age 16, when World War II ended, he was six feet two and 200 pounds.  The Army was being skeletonized by soldiers returning from the war and needed new recruits desperately, so they did not check to closely when this strapping example of manhood falsified his age and applied for enlistment.  Following basic training at Fort Ord. he was posted to Korea, and was chosen in 1948 to serve on General Douglas MacArthur’s Honor Guard, the elite group responsible for the General’s personal safety and the ultimate ‘spit and polish’ outfit in the Army.  Later he served in the special Military Police Investigation Section in Sapporo, on the island of Hokkaido, landing at Inchon with the First Marine Division.  When the Korean War broke out, Louis served with the 7^th Army Infantry Division.  Louis saw a lot of action in five major battles, and was one of six survivors of his Platoon during one Patrol.  He fought as far north as the Manchurian Border in North Korea before China entered the war.   He was rotated back to the states in 1951, and finished his enlistment as a Sergeant in the Military Police at, by coincidence, Fort MacArthur.

Louis suffered several injuries during his service years.  He participated in hundreds of boxing matches but the most serious injury occurred while he was training for wrestling, when his right knee was permanently damaged, which put him in the hospital for the first time.  The knee injury was sufficiently recovered by 1953 when he joined the Pomona California Police Department.  He subsequently became Police Supervisor in the Fullerton California Police Department.

In 1954 Louis decided he was adequately trained and prepared for marriage, and his wife, Natalie Edon, ultimately presented him with five children.  Realizing that expenses would soon become a serious matter, Louis acquired a college education, majoring in Police Sciences, and obtained a California Private Investigator License in 1957.  He opened an office in Pomona and operated throughout the state.  Eventually he conducted investigations in many other states, as well as in foreign countries.  He did specially work for many celebrities, appeared on television, and was the subject of radio and newspaper stories.

Louis experienced health problems in 1966 and moved to the quiet scene of Chico, California where he opened another detective agency. Shortly thereafter his stepfather died and Louis took over management of the San Francisco terminal of the family’s truck line.  While he was doing so, Louis continued to operate branches of his investigation agency in Chico and San Francisco on a limited basis.  In 1970, however, his brother Robert, who was General Manager of the trucking company in Pomona, died suddenly, leaving Louis to take over the operation of the entire trucking company.  The family then sold the truck line and Louis was then able to give his full attention to his own business.

For about four years, Louis started and operated the Parker School of Investigation with offices in north, south, and central California, as well as the Academy for Private Investigators and Security in Sacramento, until his heath again intervened.  While convalescing, he served as a par-professional volunteer in a crisis Center, where he met and then later married Dorothy Van Laan in 1975. He continued private investigation on a smaller scale, and returned to college, earning a BA in Sociology.

Though semi-retired, Louis continued investigation work well into his late 80’s. He was an avid golfer for most of his adult life, acknowledged as a golf-a-holic.  He wrote constantly and had written several books, stories, and plays.  With friends throughout the world, he had traveled extensively, and composed a monthly “Parker Family Newsletter” that helped friends and family keep in touch with him and with each other.  Louis was a Tribal Citizen of the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma and a member of the Chickasaw Warrior Society: an organization for Chickasaw veterans and active military.

Read more about Lou’s life from the Chickasaw Nation, Chickasaw Press Release:  https://chickasaw.net/News/Press-Releases/Release/Chickasaw-veteran-recalls-overcoming-varying-confl-55004.aspx

A Memorial Celebration of Life will be held for family and friends at Bidwell Presbyterian Church, Chico, on Friday, November 19, 2021, at 1:00 p.m.  Reception to follow in the BPC Fellowship Hall.  Please send donations, in lieu of flowers, to Disabled American Veterans (DAV) at https://www.dav.org.