David Dean Parker 1946 ~ 2024
David Dean Parker was born in Manhattan, Kansas on January 30, 1946, to Gilbert and Marilyn Parker. He was active in FFA, 4-H, and rodeo (representing Kansas in bull-riding at the 1964 High School National Finals Rodeo) and graduated from Manhattan High School in 1964. He started college at Kansas State University before enlisting in the Army in 1966. He attended Officer Candidate School before serving in Viet Nam from 1968-1969. After he left the Army as a captain in 1970, he spent 5 months in Florida learning to fly and chasing cattle before a certain girl lured him back to Kansas. Those 4 years in the Army convinced him that college wasn’t so hard after all and he resumed classes. He married the love of his life, Nancy, in 1972 and graduated from Kansas State University with a degree in Animal Science in 1973.
For 51 years, David and Nancy were an indivisible team, raising three children while managing cattle operations throughout Oklahoma, Oregon, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, and Texas. Dave treated all operations as if they were his own business, and his quiet work ethic and attention to detail garnered respect from all who met him. In 2016, David and Nancy finally retired to his family farm in Manhattan and built their dream house. After returning to Manhattan, David became actively involved in the Deep Creek community. From grading the township roads, to driving his Jeep to socialize with ROMEO (Real Old Men Eating Out), to helping to maintain and organize the Historic Deep Creek Schoolhouse, the community knew they could count on him to help with all variety of needs, as long as he wasn’t visiting his family.
David and Nancy often took trips back to Oklahoma for the Baker grandkids’ soccer, baseball, and football games, for Emma’s livestock shows, and escorting Nate across the country for shooting competitions. Once, he even made the mistake of driving to Georgia to visit Shannon! When he was home, he stayed busy taking care of those he loved: his wife, his mother, the beautiful Flint Hills, and friends and family.
David was an elder at the First Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. While you might not find him at the social functions, you could usually find him behind the scenes helping with the set up and the cleaning up.
Farm Rescue became an important part of David’s life. He understood the importance of timing in agriculture – neither crops nor cattle watch a time clock. As much as he enjoyed not needing to chop ice for his own cattle during the winter, he was happy to spend long days harvesting crops for someone who wanted to but could not. During his first harvest, he learned that the organization’s regulations wouldn’t allow him to do all he thought he should, so he got his Commercial Driver’s License so that he could legally do all he was capable of. He worked on harvests in Kansas and Nebraska.
He didn’t excel at idle chit-chat, but he felt strongly enough about the mission of Farm Rescue to work at their exhibit at the Husker Harvest Days farm show.
David always had an enormous love for his country. There were few things more beautiful to him than a gently waving American flag. In April 2023, he visited Washington, D.C. with a group of other veterans, courtesy of the Wamego High School chapter of Kansas Honor Flights. The respect the veterans received on every leg of that trip, from Kansas to Washington, D.C. and back again, was cathartic and healing for him. While clearing cedar trees out of his beloved grasslands on December 30th, he unexpectedly suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke. After being medevaced to KU Medical Center, he passed away on January 1, 2024, surrounded by “his girls”. He was able to perform one last act of service by giving the gift of life through organ donation.
David was preceded in death by his father, Gilbert, and his brother, Larry.
He is survived by his wife, Nancy (Avery) Parker; 3 daughters, their husbands & children: Erin and Brandon Hickey, Emma & Nate, of Arapaho, OK, Nicole and Brent Baker, Avery, Garrett, & Jake, of Edmond, OK, and Shannon and Jim Hodgson of Warner Robins, GA; his mother Marilyn Parker; sister-in-law Sue Parker; brother Bob Parker and wife Barbara; and many other friends and family.
A celebration of David’s life will be held at the Historic Deep Creek Schoolhouse, 3125 Deep Creek Road, Manhattan, Kansas on Saturday, January 6, 2024 from 3:00- 5:00 PM. Memorial services will be held at 2:00 PM Sunday, January 7, 2024 at the First Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, Kansas. Memorial contributions in memory of David are suggest to Farm Rescue or Deep Creek Schoolhouse. Contributions may be sent in care of the Yorgensen-Meloan- Londeen Funeral Home, 1616 Poyntz Avenue, Manhattan, Kansas 66502. Online condolences may be left for the family through the funeral home website at www.
