Kern County CA Obituary Project Obituaries.....(Smith) Parham, Esther Elaine March 8, 2005 ********************************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/obits/obitsca/obitsca.htm ********************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: K T bluewolf@onemain.com March 11, 2005, 11:47 pm The Bakersfield Californian Esther Elaine Parham Sept. 6, 1918 Mar. 8, 2005 Visitation for Esther Elaine Parham will be held at Basham Funeral Care (3312 Niles St.) on Sunday, March 13, 2005 from 5-8 p.m. and funeral services will be held at Church Of The Living Savior, 149 5th Street in McFarland on Monday, March 14, 2005 at 10:00 a.m. Interment will follow at North Kern Cemetery District in Delano, CA. Pallbearers will be Warner Brooks, Don Cornet, David Henderson, Clinton Shick, Rudy Paimer and Viga Hall. Honorary pallbearers will be Ron Wood, Raymond Shick, Dwain Smith, Don Schofner. Esther Elaine Parham, 86, died at her home at 5909-1 Sunny Palms Ave. in Bakersfield, Tuesday, March 8, 2005. Elaine is survived by her sons, Walter B. of Bakersfield and Dr. Arther A. of Fresno. Her son, Dallas died in 1980 and a daughter, Tracy Jean was born and died in 1947. Her husband, William Snyder Tony Parham died in 1964. Elaine, born September 6, 1918, Sicily Island, Louisiana was the fourth of six children born to Louis Allan Smith, whose family can be traced to 1751 North Carolina, and Myrtle Waldrop, whose family can be traced to 1600 Edinburgh, Scotland. She is survived by an older sister, Avis Lantrip of Lendale, Texas. Brothers, William Louis and Shelby and sisters, Doris and Delure preceded her in death. She has five grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren. Elaine graduated from Ouachita Parish High School in Monroe in 1936. She entered Louisiana Polytechnic Institute, now Louisiana Tech. Rustin, where she graduated and earned a teaching credential in 1940. She started her teaching career the same year at the grammar school Bashtrop, then moved to Calhoun, where on March 13, 1942, she married William Snyder Tony Parham, a graduate of L.S.U. While Captain Parham served in Europe as the CO of the 455th Ord. Evac. Unit, Elaine continued teaching in Calhoun. In 1946, Capt. Parham was honorably discharged from the Army and Elaine quit teaching to be with her husband and start a family. By 1950 they were in California and in 1951 settled in McFarland. In 1952 Elaine started teaching again in the 5th grade at Kern Ave. Grammar School. In 1962 she began teaching English at McFarland High school and served as head of the English Dept. for 20 years. She, with the help of the yearbook class, produced the McFarland High yearbook. Elaine retired in 1982 after serving on numerous curriculum committees and helped develop the Kern High School District Writing Proficiency Examination. Elaine touched the lives of hundres of young people and will be fondly remembered as the toughest teacher that they ever had, but she was the one that had the greatest impact in their lives. For additional service information or floral delivery please contact Basham Funeral Care 873-8200. Basham Funeral Care Additional Comments: Volunteer submission - No relation to deceased. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/kern/obits/smithpar6254gob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/caobfiles/ File size: 3.5 Kb