Samuel Edward Parker

Samuel Edward “Sam” Parker passed peacefully from this life at his home in Natchitoches on Friday, April 10, 2026, after a long illness.

Sam’s life was a joyful example of great love of family, of boundless good humor, of the excitement of knowledge and learning, and of an endless curiosity and zest for living. He was born on August 21, 1937, in a small cabin on Snake Ridge, near Mangham, LA. He was the second of four children of Willie Harold “W.H.” Parker and Gladys Wilma (Tarver) Parker. The Parkers lived in and around Mangham until Sam was in the tenth grade, when his parents moved him and his younger brother, Glenn, and his sister Donna to West Texas, looking for better opportunities and better schools for the children, with older brother Barney staying with family in Mangham to finish his senior year. W.H. worked as a roughneck in the Permian Basin oil fields around Midland and Odessa, and Gladys ultimately became cafeteria manager at Midland’s Goddard Junior High School.

Sam enrolled in Midland High School, where he made lifelong friends such as Skeet Harris, Ken Keener, and Harold Gregory, and where he met his beloved wife, Dorothy “Dot” Hopkins. It was while he was enrolled at Midland High that Sam got an after-school job at the Western Clinic and found the second great love of his life – medical technology. After graduating in 1955, Sam joined the Marine Corps, serving in San Diego, CA; Yuma, AZ, and Mojave, CA, leaving the service after four years with the rank of Staff Sergeant.

Sam moved back to Midland to marry his sweetheart, Dot, and to take up a job as an x-ray tech while earning his Associate’s Degree at Odessa College, becoming the first person in both the Parker and Tarver families to go to college. In 1960, he and Dot moved to the Big Bend country of Alpine, Texas, where Sam ran the x-ray department and the lab at Brewster County Hospital. The couple welcomed their son, Greg, in February of 1963.

Shortly after Greg was born, the family moved back to the flatlands of Lamesa, Texas, so Sam could take a job in the x-ray department and lab at Dawson County Hospital. The birth of their daughter, Laurie, in the fall of 1966 completed the family.

While living in Lamesa, Sam was initiated as a Mason. He also used the skills he had learned as a radio operator in the Marine Corps to get his amateur radio license. Ham radio became a life-long interest for Sam, an interest later shared by Greg. Both of Sam’s children have early memories of sitting with their Dad as he spoke with fellow ham operators around the world, in such exotic locales as Japan, Norfolk Island, and Europe.

Encouraged by his friend Dr. Howard Hancock to finish his college education, Sam moved the family to Lubbock in 1969, where he worked full-time in the blood bank and lab at Memorial Hospital while also attending Texas Tech University full-time, earning a Bachelors Degree in Microbiology and a Masters Degree in Business Administration.

Wanting to get away from the dust of West Texas and home to the green of Louisiana, Sam, Dot and their kids moved to Laplace in 1972, where Sam began his new career as a sales representative for hospital supply companies, including Scientific Products, Dade, Lederle, and Fisher Scientifics. The couple moved their family to Baton Rouge in 1977 so Greg and Laurie could attend better schools and enjoy more opportunities, just as Sam's own parents had done for Sam and his siblings in moving them to Midland.

Sam was instrumental in the drive to expand programs for Gifted and Talented students in East Baton Rouge Parish. It was through his diligent lobbying that the full-time gifted program in the parish was expanded into middle school, and it was his work that helped plant the seeds for the establishment of The Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts here in Natchitoches.

Once both children had completed college (Greg at LSU and Laurie at the University of Texas at Austin), Sam felt free to pursue another goal: becoming a private business owner. He was able to combine his love of medical technology with his MBA training when he and Dot purchased Natchitoches Diagnostic Laboratory in 1988. Sam enjoyed working hands-on in the lab, and Dot was his office manager. Two of the lab employees, Tracy Dickson and Sadie London, become family friends. Sam opened a second business venture, Superior Car Wash and Quick Lube, with his friend Earl Alexander, eventually selling his interest to Earl.

In the mid-1990s, after Greg got his pilot’s license, he took his father flying and sparked a new passion for flight in Sam. Sam loved flying his Cessnas and sharing his love of flying with Greg and with his friends James Maxey, Buddy Prince, Dean Lemoine, Jack McCain and others. He would often allow student pilots to use his planes for their lessons and flight exams, and he was always thrilled when the students earned their wings. Sam also served aviation for several years as a member of the Natchitoches Airport Commission.

After retiring from the lab, Sam worked as a consultant, advising medical and diagnostic laboratories across North and Central Louisiana on laboratory management and government compliance. When Sam was in his early 80s, he was asked to come out of retirement to run the laboratory at Natchitoches Regional Medical Center, where he served as the lab manager for three years before retiring for good.

Sam and Dot enjoyed travelling together, venturing in their RV to Colorado, Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania, and New England, on into Canada all the way to Nova Scotia. Sam, Dot and Laurie also travelled together through England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland in the fall of 1997.

Sam will also be remembered for his love of bluegrass and traditional country music, his love for dogs (especially his sweet dog, Sallie, named after the bluegrass standard “Sallie Gooden” by Eck Robertson), and for his kindness and generosity. He is survived by his wife of nearly 67 years, Dot (Hopkins) Parker of Natchitoches; his son, Greg Edward Parker (Ashley) of Denham Springs. LA; his daughter, Laurie Parker Griffey (John) of Thompson’s Station, TN; and his four grandchildren, Jackson Cameron Parker of Nashville, TN; Olivia Scott Parker of Denham Springs, LA; Jane Ashley Parker of Denham Springs, LA; and Samuel John Griffey of Thompson’s Station, TN. Also surviving him are his brothers, Barney Harold Parker (Pauline) of Colorado Springs, CO, and Glenn Dale Parker (Laureen) of Austin, TX; and his sister, Donna Marie Parker of Waynesville, NC; as well as numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews. He is predeceased by his father, Willie Harold Parker, and his mother, Gladys Wilma (Tarver) Parker.

Dot, Greg, and Laurie wish to extend their deepest appreciation to the wonderful ladies who helped care for Sam in the last months of his life: Letreice Rachal- Beasley, Audra D Edney, Regina Minette, and Gloria Winslow. The family will be forever grateful for the compassion and care these kind ladies showed to Sam and the family. They also thank Glenn and Laureen Parker for all the time and love they so generously gave Sam and Dot over the past few years.

Visitation will take place at Blanchard-St. Denis Funeral Home, 848 Keyser Ave., in Natchitoches, LA, on Monday, April 13, from 5:30 to 7 :30 p.m. and again on Tuesday, April 14, from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m., with the funeral to follow at 2:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Sam’s memory to the First Baptist Church of Natchitoches.

Those honored to serve as pallbearers include Greg Parker, John Griffey, Jack Parker, Sam Griffey, Glenn Parker, and Sheldon Parker.