Glenn Parker (judge)

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Glenn Parker
Justice of Wyoming Supreme Court
In office
1955–1975
Appointed byMilward Simpson
Personal details
Born
Sherrow Glenn Parker

(1898-11-25)November 25, 1898
Murray, Iowa
DiedApril 18, 1989(1989-04-18) (aged 90)
Cheyenne, Wyoming

Glenn Parker (November 25, 1898 – April 18, 1989) was an American jurist who served as a justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court from December 5, 1955, to January 6, 1975.[1]

Career[edit]

Parker was born in Murray, Iowa, to Charles Parker (1870–1943) and Mary Lavanchie Ball (1873–1958). He grew up with his family on a farm near Sheridan, Wyoming.[2][3] Parker attended the University of Wyoming where, in 1922, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree,[4] and in 1934, a law degree.[5] Between the time he received his bachelor's degree and his return to law school, he taught school in Laramie and Casper.[2][3] Parker served in the U.S. Army in World Wars I and II and rose to the rank of colonel.[2][3]

Parker was admitted to the Wyoming State Bar in 1927 and practiced law in Laramie.[2][3] At the time, Wyoming did not require attorneys to have a law degree in order to be admitted to the state bar.[6] Parker completed his law degree in 1934 while actively practicing law.[5] In addition to his private practice, he served as city attorney for two years and county attorney for eight years (1932-1940).[2][3] From 1949 to 1955, he served as a Wyoming state district court judge in the Second Judicial District (Albany County in Laramie).[2][3]

In 1955, Governor Milward Simpson appointed him to the Wyoming Supreme Court to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Chief Justice William Addison Riner (1878–1955). Parker had been endorsed for the position by the Albany, Carbon, and Sweetwater County Bar Associations.[7][2][3] Parker was chief justice from January 1, 1963, to January 2, 1967, and from January 1, 1973, to January 2, 1975.[8] He was the first graduate of the University of Wyoming College of Law to become a state district judge and also the first to serve on the Wyoming Supreme Court.[2][3] After his retirement in 1975, Parker was associated with the Cheyenne law firm, Hirst and Applegate.[3]

During his legal career, Parker served as Wyoming chairman of the American Bar Association's Committee on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar and was a member of the American Judicature Society and the American Law Institute.[2] He was also a special lecturer-instructor at the University of Wyoming College of Law.[2]

Family[edit]

On June 8, 1924, Parker married, Ruth Beggs (née Lila Ruth Beggs; 1893–1971) in Denver (Weld County). Together, they had two children.[3] After Ruth died, Parker, on October 7, 1972, married Sally Weitz (née Sarah Barbara Joyce; 1913–2016).[3]

Death[edit]

Parker died April 18, 1989, in Cheyenne.[3]




Legal offices
Preceded by Justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court
1955–1975
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Volney J. Tidball
(1917–2000)
Wyoming State District Judge
Second Judicial District
Albany County
(Laramie)

1949–1955
Succeeded by
Glen Stanton
(1904–1968)

Bibliography[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Who's Who. "Parker," 1966, p. 1631.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wyoming Blue Book, 1974.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wyoming Blue Book, 1991.
  4. ^ The Wyo, 1922.
  5. ^ a b Golden, Michael (1996). "History of the University of Wyoming College of Law : The First Seventy-Five Years". Land & Water Law Review. 31 (1). 10 – via Law Archive of Wyoming Scholarship.
  6. ^ Mullen, William E.; Swainson, Clarence A. (1920). Wyoming Compiled States, Annotated. p. 271.
  7. ^ Casper Star-Tribune, November 28, 1955, p. 1.
  8. ^ Wyoming Blue Book, 1974, p. 32.

References[edit]

See also[edit]