Katherine Greer Parker

KATHERINE GREER PARKER, 86, died August 4th 2003 in Memphis, TN following a brief illness.  The widow of Frank D. Parker, Sr., she attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Oakland, Oregon State University and the Highland School of Nursing.  Kaye was a Registered Nurse and a Commissioned Nurse Officer in the U.S. Army throughout World War II.  She volunteered after Pear Harbor and was commissioned at Fort Ord in April 1942. Following a whirlwind courtship, in October 1942 she wed a young Army Engineer lieutenant from Atlanta outbound to the South Pacific. Stationed in Britain during 1943-1944, she cared for wounded from the North African and Mediterranean campaigns and the Normandy Invasion. Notified that her husband was wounded on Bougainville, Kaye engineered a reassignment to the Letterman Army Hospital, the Presidio of San Francisco, which allowed her to be near him during his recovery and convalesce. She remained with the 82nd General Hospital until released from duty in September, 1945, following Japan?s surrender.  The youngest daughter of the late John Houser Greer and Lillie Holmberg Greer of Oakland, CA, Kaye was born in Denver, CO on July 4, 1917. She was raised in California and lived in Atlanta for 38 years prior to moving to Memphis in January 2003. Kaye was preceded in death by her husband and parents, her brother John Franklin Greer, and her sisters, Helen Greer, Francis Greer and Jean Greer Waites.  Kaye was a long time member of Atlanta?s St. James United Methodist Church, the P.E.O. Sisterhood, Old Campbell County Historical and St. Andrews Societies, was an Alzheimer's Volunteer and a 20-year member of the Northside Hospital Auxiliary. She had a long association and many dear friends in the Burns Club, G.S.P.E., A.I.P.E. and S.A.M.E. through her husband's activities. She was proud of her Scottish-Swedish heritage and enjoyed attending the Grandfather and Stone Mountain Highland Games. Katherine is survived by her sons, Frank D. Parker, Jr., of Atlanta,GA, John H. Parker of Memphis, TN and J. Wilson Parker II of Winston-Salem, NC, 13 grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren.  In a final gesture of her love for others, she donated her body to the University of Tennessee School of Medicine.  A Memorial Service is planned to be held in the Fall at the St. James United Methodist Church, followed by interment in Fairburn, GA.