Kern County CA Obituary Project Obituaries.....Parker, Donald Franklin 'Bill'  October 9 2004
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
K T bluewolf@onemain.com October 17, 2004, 10:28 pm

The Bakersfield Californian 
Bill Parker
2/24/1951 10/9/2004

Donald Franklin Bill Parker of Orofino, Idaho passed from this world to his 
reward with Jesus on October 9, 2004 while holding the hand of his soul mate, 
Rhonda Carroll. At his request, he shall be cremated. A reunion of friends and 
family will occur at the peak of autumn next year in Orofino when we will bury 
his ashes. 

Bill was born in Hollywood, CA in 1951 and attended Canoga Park High School 
and Canoga Park Community College. He escaped the city to live in the forest 
in his twenties, for a time residing in a hole in the ground with his dog, 
Zeus. He worked for the mill in Johnsondale where he met his future wife and 
son, Janet Hearn and Ray Murray. After a brief and freezing foray into Idaho, 
they ended up planting trees in Trinity County, CA while living in a camper 
and eating ferns.

Janet and Bill had many colorful friends who enjoyed gathering around the 
campfire with them and bantering with Bill and his lively wit. One of their 
friends picked bugs out of the air and ate them. Some of their friends lived 
in a chicken coop. A few live in Oregon on a commune.

Then they settled down a bit and had their daughter, April. Janet stayed home 
and tended the kids and her vegetable garden while Bill worked, alternatively 
drilling wells and hauling logs and rebar. They lived most of their seventeen 
years in Kern River Valley, then parted company.

Bill sojourned in Southern California for a few years where he made a few rich 
and lasting friendships, then moved to Elgin, Arizona where he met his soul 
mate and lover of ten years, Rhonda Carroll. They enjoyed a deep intimacy and 
many happy, content years. In Arizona they both worked at Fork Huachuca. She 
was a supervisor and he tested radio equipment, welded, and fixed Humvees. But 
the climate in Arizona didn't like Bill. So he fulfilled his life long dream 
of returning to Idaho, which he described as going back in time 25-30 years. 
(He, however, did live in a house, not a hole, and he did get his food from 
the grocery store rather than by foraging.)

Bill fulfilled other goals of his, which were to think deeply, love 
profoundly, live honestly, and improve himself daily. He lived his last 14 
years sober and the last few months tobacco free.

He enjoyed working his AA program, reading books, watching college football 
(especially the USC Trojans), making sick jokes, singing college fight songs 
to his daughter, watching thunder storms, hunting, gun collecting, and using 
multisyllabic words. He was intelligent, sensitive, caring, practical, 
perceptive, analytical, methodical, and organized. He had high standards.

Bill was preceded in death by his parents, William and Vera. He is survived by 
his beloved, Rhonda Carroll of Orofino, Idaho; his son and family, Ray, Kim, 
Brittany, and Karissa Murray of Frazier Park, CA; his daughter and family, 
April, Steve, Stephen, Julia and Trinity Ostberg of Bakersfield, CA; his 
brother and family, Larry, Tinker, Crystal, Sarah, Kimberly, and Dale parker 
of Canoga Park, CA, and by many close and sustaining friendships. 


Additional Comments:
Volunteer submission - No relation to deceased.

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