Charlie Parker's passing

[dbenningfield]

It is with a heavy heart and great sadness that I have learned that Charlie Parker passed away this evening of a massive heart attack. Our community has lost a man with great integrity and someone with ennormous knowledge and passion for our science. We are a better community of examiners because of him. As soon as his services are planned, it will be posted on the Texas Division of IAI website http://www.tdiai.org

RIP Charlie, RIP my friend!

Debbie Benningfield

[g.]

You and your awesome posts, musings, FIG emails, and general wealth of contributions to this field will be sorely missed. Thanks for your counsel so many times...

g.

[Ann Horsman]

This is sad and unexpected news. Godspeed to Charlie and his family.

[Haria]

My thoughts and prayers go out to all of those that knew him and his family. We have lost a good person. Charles had a wealth of knowledge and was proud to share that information. He was passionate about his field and was willing to support anyone that needed assistance. I am proud and blessed to have known him – RIP Charles!!!

[graymar]

I am saddened by the news of Charlie's passing. I had the good fortune to meet him a few years back at an IAI conference. Over the years, we had numerous conversations and I always enjoyed his enthusiasm for this field. He had a passion for fingerprints - all aspects, including teaching and sharing his knowledge with others. What a kind and gentle soul...he will be missed.

My deepest sympathy to his family.
M. Leanne Gray

[Darrell Klasey]

What horrible news. Charles and I shared a passion for fingerprint history. Thank God I was able to visit with him one last time at the Board of Directors meeting last January. RIP Charles; you'll be missed.

Darrell

[ioan_truta]

I am truly saddened by Charles's death. He was an amazing person.
His unexpected passing will not only leave a void in our community, but in the hearts of everyone who knew him.

My sincere thoughts and prayers are with his family.
With deepest sympathy,

Ioan Truta

[Shane Turnidge]

Firstly, my thoughts and prayers go out to Charlie's family and friends for their loss.

He was a wonderful guy who loved this business and unselfishly gave of himself. He shared his knowledge with people from around the world yet in spite of his vast knowledge and experience he never stopped learning -- He was truly respected by everyone.
I'm sure that most examiners that ever worked, met or interacted with Charlie have a few tales to tell. I will remember him fondly every time I think about him.
Godspeed Charlie.

Shane Turnidge

[Dennis Degler]

[Bill]

I am also shocked and saddened at Charles' passing. we grew to be good friends in recent years. Charles encouraged me privately and provoked me to think of our profession from various viewpoints. He could respectfully find a weakness in what I thought was a well thought out argument and explain articulately the fallacy of my point of view. On other occasions, he surprised me by agreeing with me whole heartedly on a topic or topics. And, still, at other times, he would ask me permission to use something I had written or said. I was flattered, humbled, and grateful.

When I sent him a court ruling in one of my cases in which I felt personally violated by the defense counsel even though the courts had ruled in favor of the Commonwealth, he said, “Bill, you did good, and you won!” That was all I needed that day. I drove home feeling much better after reading his email.

I think all of us who called Charlie a friend feel genuine grief and not just a passing thought, “Oh, he was a nice guy and a good examiner—he’ll be missed." Those of us who knew Charles feel more than just passing superficial temporary regret. For me personally, it goes deeper and touches the "grief nerve." And, then, I feel pain. When I think of grief and pain, I think of the writings of the great essayist, professor, and author C. S. Lewis who wrote so eloquently:

"Part of every misery is, so to speak, the misery's shadow or reflection: the fact that you don't merely
suffer but have to keep on thinking about the fact that you suffer. I not only live each endless day in
grief, but live each day thinking about living each day in grief . . . . No one ever told me that grief felt
so like fear." - C.S. Lewis, (1899-1963), A Grief Observed

Lastly, I cannot help thinking about Charles’ courage in the face of his own personal health adversity. To me and around me, he always remained positive, and he never expressed his outright fear of the circumstances with his health. I think his outlook facing life-threatening illnesses can serve as a model for the rest of us, because, we all will eventually be there one day, one way or another. We must be ready to accept that fact.

“Death is the great adventure beside which moon landings and space trips pale into
insignificance.” “Death always waits. The door of the hearse is never closed.” –Joseph T. Bayly
(American Author, 1920-1986)

I pray for Charles' family as I know they will miss him as well. I know he loved his grandchildren and would speak of them often during coversations that did not involve fingerprints. He always looked forward to seeing them. Yes, he was in fact capable of conversing about other topics besides fingerprints, and he was just as articulate. Underneath his Texas country personna was an intellect. I wish I knew half of what he forgot.

I will miss him greatly.

Respectfully,

Bill

[Gerald Clough]

I don't often have this sense of loss in the professional realm. Throughout the continual learning experience of fingerprint work at the small agencies where I was also a detective, Charles made himself always available. He mentored. He verified. He broke his heavy casework to run my stuff against his local AFIS and APIS because he had palms and his agency recorded even very minor arrests. He took time to read and comment on the written explorations I used to try to shake out ideas. I knew him as one of those rare folks who are entirely expert and able to form and stand behind ideas and opinions but who always stay open to the notion that everyone who contributed a serious comment, no matter how different in experience, just might have some insight. And he cared very much about the discipline, and it was clear that, wherever the evolving practice went, he would be there moving forward with it. With Charles, you had to think carefully before you said something, but what you had to say was always honored by close attention and a thoughtful response. I now work with cases that were long solved and are now in the latter stages of appeal, and I'm constantly reminded of how much Charles contributed when, again and again, he appears as the examiner in a major case. And, as many know, he never lost his humor and his ability to take himself lightly. So many of us have been so very lucky to have worked with Charles.

[Pat]

I was fortunate to have known Charles both as a fellow latent print examiner and as a personal friend. On a visit I made to Padre Island in about 1989, Charles invited me to stay overnight in his home in Corpus Christi. He was recently divorced and had the large house all to himself. As Charles was giving me the quick tour of his home, one of the bedrooms presented an interesting sight. The room was barren of furniture as I recall except for a couple of simple chairs and a table in the middle of the room. On the table was a doll house. Not a small, cheap, doll house of molded plastic, but a mansion of a doll house several feet wide, several feet deep, and several feet high carved of wood and painted. Around the doll house on the margins of the table were Charles' tools and material -- thin sheets of balsam wood, little jars of brightly colored model paints, exacto knives, fine grained sand paper, etc. The doll house consisted of three or four stories with tiny stair cases running between floors in the middle of the structure. Each side allowed a view of fully furnished rooms. The small walls, the miniature furniture, the tiny decorations of vases and paintings and other things you would find in any good home, were all hand made with meticulous attention to accuracy. I walked around this creation peering into each room like some kind of fascinated voyeur and marveled at the intricate detail. Charles explained that he was building it for his daughter. I have no idea how many hundreds of patient hours Charles invested in that demonstration of love as he sat alone after work each evening missing his little girl, but the impression it left on me goes beyond the dimension of professionalism we all know him for in his chosen vocation. I never met Charles' daughter, nor did I ever ask him what had become of the doll house after he was satisfied with the finished product. But I know this: Our loss is far greater than just another latent print examiner we knew and respected.

[L.J.Steele]

I am stunned, and saddened. My hopes and prayers are with his family.

[Ernie Hamm]

I, as others, was shocked and saddened on hearing of the sudden and unexpected passing of Charles.

Many of you knew of Charles’ contributions and dedication to the area of latent print examinations. However, his forensic attributes extended beyond this arena. Charles, when he was working in Corpus Christi, was selected to serve in the IAI Footwear and Tire Track SPECIAL committee in the late 1980’s. This committee was formed to demonstrate the value and importance of track evidence in criminal investigations and it succeeded in the subsequent establishment of the Footwear and Tire Track Subcommittee of the IAI.

I shared Charles’ interest in historical aspects of fingerprint identification. In my professional downsizing of material a few years ago, I was fortunate to have been able to contribute to Charles’ ‘collection’ of older and difficult to obtain professional items. Parts of my collection went to various organizations and individuals, but my most satisfying was knowing that some very valued items went to Charles Parker. He was a dedicated historian and I knew he would respect and properly utilize the donated material. While I do not know the name of the individual, he communicate to me that his collection, which would include my material, was to go to an individual he trained in the event of his death and this decison was established several years ago. I hope this person has the same respect and appreciation of the material that Charles, and I, enjoyed over the years.

“Knuckling dragging Cousin”, rest in peace.

“Do not cry because it is over. Smile because it happened”

[Neville]

Sorry to here the sad news I will miss the down to earth reality he wrote. I just had a quick look; this is his stats:-

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That is comitment.

Last visited: Tue Mar 08, 2011 time flies my knuckle draggin cousin, but no longer for you.