Dr. william r. parker biography

William Riley Parker (August 7, 1906 – October 28, 1968) was an American scholar noted for his works on John Milton.

Early life and academic career

He was born in Roanoke, Virginia to Dr Frank Parker and Bertha Ladow Parker (née Riley). He was educated at Roanoke College and Princeton University, where he was awarded an MA. Parker was then appointed instructor in English at Northwestern University. He studied for his B.Litt. at Oxford University, where he analysed the influence of Greek tragedy on John Milton's Samson Agonistes.

Parker returned to the United States and worked for Ohio State University. In 1937 his B.Litt. thesis was published as Milton's Debt to Greek Tragedy in Samson Agonistes. In 1938 Clarendon Press commissioned Parker to write a biography of John Milton, which was published in two volumes in 1968.

In 1946 Parker became secretary of the Modern Language Association and for ten years he edited its journal. During this time he was also professor at New York University and in 1956 was appointed professor of English at Indiana University. In 1958 he was promoted to distinguished service professor of English at Indiana and in 1966 he became chairman of the English department.

Personal life

In 1932 Parker married Mary Ann Blakesley and they had a son and a daughter.

Works

Books

• Milton's Debt to Greek Tragedy in Samson Agonistes (Johns Hopkins Press, 1937).
• Milton's Contemporary Reputation (Columbus: The Ohio State University Press, 1940).
• Milton: A Biography, two volumes (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968).

Articles

• 'Milton's Last Sonnet', The Review of English Studies, Vol. 21, No. 83 (July 1945), pp. 235-238.
• 'Milton's Last Sonnet Again', The Review of English Studies, Vol. 2, No. 6 (April 1951), pp. 147-154.
• 'Who Wouldn't Have Thought?', CEA Critic, Vol. 14, No. 2 (February 1952), p. 2.
• 'What Next?', PMLA, Vol. 68,

“Let us say right here that our class found most writings on prayer made it sound too easy.  It isn’t.  Those who use it as a spare tire, only when an emergency arises, are very apt to be disappointed in its results.”  From Prayer Can Change Your Life by Dr. William R. Parker and Elaine St. Johns

The book quoted above is another one that has had a major impact on my life.  I saw a reference to it somewhere, was intrigued by the title, found a copy, started reading, and was even more intrigued by the content.  It is about a scientifically conducted test on prayer with 45 participants, including agnostics, a minister and an atheist.

Prayer  – our communication link with God – is a gift to all of us, if we’re willing to accept it as such and to be brutally honest with ourselves as we pray.  That is a lesson those test participants also learned. 

For many of us the first questions we ask are when should we pray, where should we pray, and most importantly, how should we pray. The answers to when and where are easy: anytime, and anywhere. 

Dot Cresswell was one of the original nine members of The Church of the Saviour.  Knowing that her membership commitment included a commitment to spend a specified amount of time in prayer every day, I asked her how she managed that when her children were little.  “I locked myself in the bathroom,” she said.  It was the only place she could go where her little ones wouldn’t disturb her.  As I said, the when and where are easy – anytime, anywhere, even in the bathroom.

As to the question, How should we pray, I believe the first step is to learn to be completely honest with God in our prayers.  That I discovered by accident when I was honing my writing skills and learning how to say exactly what I meant, which isn’t as easy as it sounds.  I did that by writing short prayers about those things that were critically

Mr.WilliamR.Parker

Born 1910s.

Died 1990s.

Profile last modified | Created 23 Sep 2015

This page has been accessed 353 times.

Biography

In WWII, he was a Captain. William R. "Cherry" attended grade school in Wheatland, MO but graduated from Warsaw High School in 1932. He attended Drury College, Springfield, MO for two years. He went to Redlands, CA, lived with his second cousin, Homer Rickson (son of Mary Elizabeth Parker Rickson) and enrolled in the University of Redlands where he received a B.A. and M.A. He received his Doctorate from the University of Southern California. He was a professor of speech pathology at the University of Redlands for 25 years and was Director of the Speech and Hearing Clinic at the University. He also founded the Redlands Human Relations Workshop. He produced the television series, "Children in Conflict," a program which dealt with the emotional problems in children. He has been a guest lecturer all over the United States. He has also authored a number of books: Pathology of Speech (1951), Prayer Can Change Your Life (1957), Prayer Therapy (1958), Man's Greatest Single Problem (1970), You Are Human and Devine (1975), and At. the End of All Path's I Wait (1978). The Department of Communicative Disorders (Truesdail Speech Clinic) on September 10, 1987, honored him by establishing the "William R. Parker Scholarship Award."

Sources

U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 William Parker U.S. Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Volume 2 William Parker 1940 United States Federal Census William R Parker 1920 United States Federal Census William Parker 1930 United States Federal Census William Parker California, Divorce Index, 1966-1984 William Parker California, Death Index, 1940-1997 William Parker

This person is also found in a book titled DESCENDANTS OF HEZEKIAH V. PARKER AND MARY ANN SMITH PARKER compiled and edited July 1988 by Mildred Beth Wise Stewart.