Obituary of Mellon Grady Parker

Mellon Grady Parker, husband, father, brother, grandpa (great & great great), uncle, cousin and friend passed away at his home on October 18, 2024, in Pensacola, Florida at the age of 96. He was born to Georgia and Mellon Parker on May 10, 1928, in Monroe, North Carolina.

Mel as a lot of people called him, began his career delivering mail on base in his first civil service job at Cherry Point, North Carolina. He went on to be a sheet metal mechanic, aircraft electrician, electronics technician, ejection seat technician.. then QA, Building QA and then Narf supervisor at Hurlburt Field and NAS Pensacola.  Once he retired, he didn't slow down.  He built and worked at Parkers Service Center and tinkered around his shop until he couldn't any longer.  He will be missed greatly by all his shop buddies especially Tommy, Danny, and Daniel.  

Mel was married for 78 years to Irene Virginia Parker.  She referred to him lovingly as Sonny.  They wed in Sept 1946 in New Bern, North Carolina and later moved to Pensacola, FL.  Irene and Mel enjoyed going out to dinner and visiting with their friends at Grand Lagoon Yacht Club for many years.  They loved being accompanied by their grandchildren, including all the great grands and would show them off proudly on Friday nights.  A tradition that continued until his passing. 

He loved to bowl and participated in a league well into his 90's.  He was a Master Mason, Shriner and 32 deg Scottish Rite.  He was a part of the Hadji Shriners Antique Car Unit for 52 years.  In his early days, he loved attending the antique car shows and enjoyed sharing this passion with his family.

He loved unconditionally, gave the greatest bear hug, smiled with his eyes but would then say "bahumbug". He gave to so many and didn’t expect anything in return. 

He is survived by his wife Irene Parker, brother James Parker Sr. (Lois), daughter Pam Lauritzen (Chuck) and son Mike Parker (Marguerite).  He had 6 grandchildren who called him Paw Paw. They are Michael Lauritzen, Rusty Parker (Tabatha), Scott Lauritzen (Dorota), Kristin Johnson (Aaron), Michael Parker (Kaitlyn), and Thomas Parker (Traci).  He had 10 great grandchildren Sierra, Shelby, Dakota, Sean, Emma, Maci, Monyca, Anastazja, Ella, and Henry along with 3 great great grandchildren Paisley, Paxton and Grady.

He is preceded in death by his parents, brother Tony, sister Patricia, as well as his son Jerry Russell Parker Sr.  His legacy will live on through his children and all of his grands.

Services will be held at Family-Funeral & Cremation on Friday, Oct 25 starting at 2:00 PM