Glenn Parker (judge)

Glenn Parker
Justice of Wyoming Supreme Court
In office
1955–1975
Appointed byMilward Simpson
Personal details
Born
Sherrow Glenn Parker

(1898-11-25)November 25, 1898
Murray, Iowa
DiedApril 18, 1989(1989-04-18) (aged 90)
Cheyenne, Wyoming

Glenn Parker (November 25, 1898 – April 18, 1989) was an American jurist who served as a justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court from December 5, 1955, to January 6, 1975, during which period he also served as the chief justice of the court for two non-consecutive four-year terms.[1]

Career

Parker was born in Murray, Iowa, to Charles Parker (1870–1943) and Mary Lavanchie Ball (1873–1958). He grew up on a family farm near Sheridan, Wyoming.[2][3] Parker attended the University of Wyoming where, in 1922, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree,[4] and in 1934, a law degree.[5] Between the time he received his bachelor's degree and his return to law school, he taught school in Laramie and Casper.[2][3] Parker served in the U.S. Army in World Wars I and II and rose to the rank of colonel.[2][3]

Parker was admitted to the Wyoming State Bar in 1927 and practiced law in Laramie.[2][3] At the time, Wyoming did not require attorneys to have a law degree in order to be admitted to the state bar.[6] Parker completed his law degree in 1934 while actively practicing law.[5] In addition to his private practice, he served as city attorney for two years and county attorney for eight years (1932-1940).[2][3] From 1949 to 1955, he served as a Wyoming state district court judge in the Second Judicial District (Albany County in Laramie).[2][3]

In 1955, Governor Milward Simpson appointed him to the Wyoming Supreme Court to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Chief Justice William Addison Riner (1878–1955). Parker had been endorsed for the position by the Albany, Carbon, and Sweetwater County Bar Associations.[7][2][3] Parker was chief justice from January 1, 1963, to January 2, 1967, and from January 1, 1973, to January 2, 1975.[8] He was the first graduate of the University of Wyoming College of Law to become a state district judge and also the first to serve on the Wyoming Supreme Court.[2][3] After his retirement in 1975, Parker was associated with the Cheyenne law firm, Hirst and Applegate.[3]

During his legal career, Parker served as Wyoming chairman of the American Bar Association's Committee on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar and was a member of the American Judicature Society and the American Law Institute.[2] He was also a special lecturer-instructor at the University of Wyoming College of Law.[2]

Family

On June 8, 1924, Parker married, Ruth Beggs (née Lila Ruth Beggs; 1893–1971) in Denver (Weld County). Together, they had two children.[3] After Ruth died, Parker, on October 7, 1972, married Sally Weitz (née Sarah Barbara Joyce; 1913–2016).[3]

Death

Parker died April 18, 1989, in Cheyenne.[3]

Bibliography

Notes

  1. ^ Who's Who. "Parker," 1966, p. 1631.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wyoming Blue Book, 1974.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wyoming Blue Book, 1991.
  4. ^ The Wyo, 1922.
  5. ^ a b Golden, Michael (1996). "History of the University of Wyoming College of Law : The First Seventy-Five Years". Land & Water Law Review. 31 (1). 10 – via Law Archive of Wyoming Scholarship.
  6. ^ Mullen, William E.; Swainson, Clarence A. (1920). Wyoming Compiled States, Annotated. p. 271.
  7. ^ Casper Star-Tribune, November 28, 1955, p. 1.
  8. ^ Wyoming Blue Book, 1974, p. 32.

References

See also