Georgia:  DeKalb County:  Obituary of Thomas Melvin "Jim" Parham
13 December 1996
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THE ATLANTA JOURNAL AND CONSTITUTION

T. M. JIM PARHAM HELPED SHAPE SOCIAL POLICY AS STATE, NATIONAL OFFICIAL

T. M. Jim Parham, who served three Georgia Governors and
President Jimmy Carter in shaping social policy, died
Friday of complications from a stroke.

Mr. Parham, 69, of Decatur died at St. Joseph's Hospital.
The body was donated to Emory University School of
Medicine.  Memorial service plans will be announced, said
his wife, Dorothy Spears Butler Parham of Decatur.

Mr. Parham served Carter as associate assistant to the
President at the White House and later as deputy
assistant secretary in the Office of Human Development
Services at the Department of Health, Education and
Welfare 1977-1979.

In 1963, Gov. Carl Sanders named Mr. Parham to head the
state's new division Children and Youth.  The division
was created by the General Assembly on the basis of a
written report by Mr. Parham.

As governor, Mr. Carter chose Mr. Parham to direct the
Department of Family and Children's Services in 1971.  

Mr. Parham was named commissioner of human resources in
1975 by Governor George Busbee.

In 1979, Mr. Parham became a member of the Board of
Directors of Anneewakee, a Douglas County facility for
troubled youths.  He became chairman of the Anneewakee
board in 1986, in the midst of a controversy over sexual
exploitation of patients and alleged fraud at the center.

Mr. Parham retired in 1994 as professsor of social
welfare at the University of Georgia.

Surviving in addition to his wife, are two daughters,
Vicki P. Deyton of Newnan and Nancy P. Buckler of
Peachtree Corners; a stepdaughter, Eileen Butler Gady Of
Marietta, a stepson, Franklin T. Butler of Douglasville,
a sister, Barbara P. Turner of Duluth and seven
grandchildren.

==================
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

T. M. “JIM” PARHAM, MEMORIAL SET FOR REFORMER

The Memorial Service for T.M. Jim Parham, a former aide
to President Jimmy Carter and three Georgia Governors,
will be held at 3 p.m. Tuesday at the Unitarian
Universalist Church in Atlanta.

Mr. Parham died Friday of complications from a stroke at
St. Joseph’s Hospital.  He was 69 and lived in Decatur.

The body was donated to the Emory School of Medicine.

Mr. Parham grew up in an impoverished family in one of
Atlanta’s company-owned cotton mill neighborhoods, said
his wife, Dorothy Spears Butler of Decatur.  “He didn’t
know he was poor until he moved out of the cotton mill
village”, she said.

Mr. Parham’s humble beginnings had a profound effect,
Mrs. Parham said. Throughout his life, she said, he
served as an advocate for social reform, particularly
pertaining to children.

In 1977, Carter selected Mr. Parham to be a White House
Special Assistant for Intergovernment Relations.  He
later moved to the Department of Health, Education and
Welfare as deputy assistant secretary in the Office of
Human Development Services.

“He was a man of enormous passion,” said Jack Watson, who
served as White House Chief of Staff during the Carter
Administration.  “His passion was reflected in his works
for underprivileged people of every age and every
circumstance.

“He was one of the most practical, compassionate and
eloquent men I’ve ever known,” said Mr. Watson.

Gov. Carl Sanders named Mr. Parham to head the state’s
then-new Division for Children and Youth in 1963.  In
1971, he was appointed Director of the Department of
Family and Children’s Services.  And in 1975 he was named
Commissioner of Human Resources by Gov. George Busbee.

“There was no such thing as a lost cause of person.  Jim
never gave up,” said Bill Jamison, a close friend and
former colleague at the Georgia Department of Human
Resources.

Mr. Parham also taught social welfare at the University
of Georgia.

After retiring from the university system in 1994, he
served as board president of Emmaus House, where he
recently had been working on expanding the children’s
programs.

“Jim was particularly disturbed by the negative impact on
children which he saw as a byproduct of recent changes in
the welfare system,” said Emmaus board member Panke
Bradley Miller.

“I asked my husband one day what he’d like to be
remembered for, and he said his work for children,”  Mrs.
Parham said.

Surviving in addition to his wife are two daughters,
Vicki P. Deyton of Newnan and Nancy P. Buckler of
Peachtree Corners; a stepdaughter Eileen Butler Gady of
Marietta; a stepson, Franklin T. Butler of Douglasville;
a sister Barbara P. Turner of Duluth; and seven
grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, donations should be sent to The
Emmaus House Foundation, 1017 Capitol Ave., S.W.,
Atlanta, GA 30315.