Obituary of Charles Wyche Parker

Charles Wyche Parker was born to Charles and Mary Wyche Parker on February 5, 1924 in Salisbury, North Carolina. He died February 14, 2018, in Melbourne, Florida. He married Marion Roselle McIntosh in May 1944, just after he graduated from North Carolina State University with a degree in electrical engineering. He and Marion had five children: Patricia Parker Maxson, deceased; Carol Parker Cowley (Richard) of Panama City; Charles Robert Parker of Sycamore, Georgia; Rebecca Parker Maynard (Philip) of Satellite Beach; and John William McIntosh Parker (Charlotte) of Palm Bay. Grandchildren include Bill Selby of Merritt Island; Suzy Stork (Pat) of Palm Bay; Katrina Cowley Elsea (David) of Burleson, Texas; Matt Cowley (Sara) of Decatur, Georgia; Amanda Landry (Matt) of Jensen Beach; Josh Maynard (Jamie) of Thonotosassa; William Parker of Palm Bay; and Rachel Quispe (Fred) of Gainesville. Great-grandchildren are Allyson Selby, Savannah Selby; Kaleigh Cummings, Elizabeth Cummings; Kayla Barck (Nick), Kelsie Stork, Hope Stork; Hueston Elsea, Bowen Elsea; Emmett Cowley, Van Cowley; Logan Landry (Eileen), Noah Landry, Liam Landry; Angel Maynard, Adam Maynard; Amber Wood, Aleia Wood; and one great-great-granddaughter, Elizabeth Grace Landry. He had one sister, Margaret Earle “Peggy” Lentz (Henry, deceased) of Florence, South Carolina, and several nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by Marion, his wife of 51 years, his brother-in-law Henry Lentz, and his daughter Patricia Maxson. Known to most as Charlie, he grew up in North Carolina, spending most summers in the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina area with aunts, uncles, and nieces and nephews. When his first grandchild was born, he felt too young to be a grandfather and owned a sailboat, so he was dubbed “Skipper.” After graduation from college, he worked in Washington, DC; Raleigh and Salisbury, North Carolina; Huntsville, Alabama; Lompoc, California; and Brevard County, Florida. In civil service, he worked as a civilian employee of the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force National Range Division, Defense Logistics Agency, and NASA. He began work at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama in the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. Moving the family to Melbourne, Florida, he began work in this area in 1960. Thus was his career in the aerospace industry launched. During these exciting years in America’s space program, he worked for Rockwell, Planning Research Corporation, Boeing, and the Pershing Project office. He performed analysis of shuttle manifest requirements related to payload problems during Apollo and Skylab interface testing. Active security clearances of at least secret level were held in all organizations, with first acquisition in 1953. Top secret clearance was first granted in 1956 at Redstone Arsenal. His involvement with the shuttle program became the highlight of his retirement, from the early 1990s until 2016. Charlie continued trips to the Kennedy Space Center where he worked as a very active volunteer. These years accumulated many exciting stories of notables he met and escorted. This list included Clint Eastwood, Ron Howard, Tom Hanks, Dan Rather, and many astronauts. In the last several years of his life, he immersed himself in the field of photography, a lifelong interest. He especially loved to escort “the wires,” setting up for Reuters and National Geographic. One of the favorite stories was of Sir Richard Branson borrowing a sheet of paper for a security guard who wanted an autograph. Afterward, Sir Richard gave Charlie his home address in Oxford, England. Those who knew Charlie even in his last days and years will continue to tell of their memories with him.