| |
Yuma, Arizona 1938-1939? Little is known of Vern's childhood and early adulthood. He apparently had married in Lindsay, as there is an infant buried at the Strathmore Public Cemetery whose name was Vernon Parker. The child was born November 18, 1923 and died November 19, 1923.
The next appearance to my knowledge was in Yuma, Arizona, 1938. My father, Claude Parker, was a missionary to the Yuma Indians, or the Cocopaw tribe. During his ministry there, he had built a chapel on the reservation for the Indians. Several of Claude and Allez Parker's children were born in Yuma. During Vern's stay in Yuma, he painted a velvet hanging of The Good Shepherd. It is a grand size, probably about 8'x10'. It is dated 1938, one of the few works he dated, and is inscribed,
"The Good Shepherd Compliments of Vern Parker To Claude and his Indian Mission Dec. 25-38"
The Good Shepherd Velvet hung for many years in our home in Kingman, Arizona, where we moved in 1941. It then hung in the front, behind the pulpit, of the The Assembly of God Church, affectionately known as "The Rock Church" in Kingman. Later, it was taken care of by my sister, Phoebe, who remained in Kingman after the rest of the family had left. It was with her until she died in 1997. It is presently under the protection of my nephew, Troy Parker Wise, Pasadena, California. Serious consideration is being made to donate it to a historical museum or mission. It is such a work of art, an act of love, and so worth the effort to preserve it as Vern Parker's most spiritual work, and one of his earliest as well.
The Good Shepherd Velvet
The Rock Church, Kingman, Arizona, circa 1940's.
THE CALL OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN
An article written and published in December, 1939, by Claude Parker
Before me lay a picture of La Luna, clipped from the Herald of Holiness. La Luna is an old worn-out missionary mule in Guatemala. Her weary head hangs heavy, her ears flop over and her eyes are dull. Her limbs appear to be trembly and her back has large saddle scars. Sixteen years ago Robert Ingram met me in Guatemala City and I rode La Luna to Coban, a journey of four days. Then, her limbs were fleet and her foot sure. Over those narrow rocky trails on the high mountainside I felt secure on La Luna's back. She was snappy and fond of jokes. The picture of that old mule and Brother Anderson standing in front of her, brushed away some cobwebs from my memory and my mind went back to those American Indians whose territory I crossed away back in '23, giving out New Testaments and Gospels in Spanish. The vicious Yaquis of Sonora, the aristocratic Mayos of Sinaloa, the hard-boiled Zacatecs of Eastern Mexico came before me. Again I heard the laughter and son of the remnant of the Aztecs in Central Mexico. Our own beloved Dr. Santin of Mexico City, is a thoroughbred Aztec, "y nada mas," dijo el. The illustrious Tehuantepecs passed before me as I passed on to the tribes of the jungles of Southern Mexico and Central America, and the Quecchis of Guatemala, the scions of the Maya civilization to whom La Luna ministered. It all lay heavy on my heart while we went to visit a small village of our own Yumas. We were met by two women with a twinkle in their eyes and a grin on their faces which can be produced only by salvation. I saw them first a year ago. There was a blank, distant stare on their face, with an occasional forced, forlorn smile. Now they have hope, for they have found Christ. Today a Cocopaw Indian from the reservation fourteen miles down river drove into my yard and rolled out three large watermelons. "Amigo, porque?" he began in broken Spanish. "You have a church for the Yumas, you help the Yumas, but the poor Cocopaws, no one tries to help us. You come down we will get together and build a mission house." The most forlorn, forgotten and neglected people I have ever seen are these poor Cocopaws. It drove me back to the picture of La Luna, "Oh, Lord, let me die like that. Body worn out and knees trembling from labor, weary head hanging heavy, eyes dim from duty, ears flopped over and back scarred from carrying the message of Christ to the American Indian." There is no investment more secure and paying greater dividends than the Indian Fund of the General Board.
Still while in Yuma, Vern painted "Mountain Cabin." This painting remained in the family, stored away, unframed, until I married.
It is now beautifully framed, and holds a prominent place in my home.
Mountain Cabin --Joanna Parker Hagman
More About Yuma, Arizona
More About Kingman, Arizona
Go the the Next Page
Return to Previous Page
Return to Top
Back to About Vern Parker">Return to About Vern Parker
Return Home
"Hast thou given the horse his might?
Hast thou clothed his neck with the quivering mane?" Job 39:19 ASV
|
