Richard T. "Dick" Parker, 82, died June 21, 2006, at the Thorne Care Center at Wesley Towers, Hutchinson.

He was born Nov. 12, 1923, in El Dorado, Kan., the son of Arthur and Frieda Jones Parker. In 1936, Parker and his younger brother, Jack, were taken from an orphanage in Hutchinson by the Kent sisters, Mabel, Mattie, Isabel and their brother, Robert Kent. After attending Hutchinson High School and Junior College, Parker graduated from Navy Midshipmen School at Northwestern University and became an officer in the U.S. Navy. He was sent to the interior of China and spent the remainder of the war training Chinese guerilla troops. After the war he was stationed in Shanghai and met Galina Feldger, a young Russian woman who had lived in China for 22 years. They were married a year later in San Francisco and settled in Hutchinson. In 1947, Parker joined Krause Plow Corporation as a clerk in the Personnel Department and worked his way up through the company, becoming President in 1982. He retired in 1991. In 1967, while still with Krause, Parker and his brother, Jack, formed Haven Steel Products, which they sold in 1987.

Throughout his career and during retirement, Parker was involved in various local, state and national organizations. He was President of the Hutchinson Chamber of Commerce, the Reno County Economic Development Council and the Hutchinson Community College Foundation and Endowment. He was Chairman of the HCC Board of Trustees, the Hutchinson Hospital Foundation, the Hutchinson Hospital Corporation and the Hutchinson Recreation Association. He was a Director of the Boards of the National Farm and Industrial Institute, the National Farm Manufacturing Association, the National Association of Community College Trustees and Hutchinson's First National Bank.

Parker served as Mayor of Willowbrook from 1972 to 1976 and from 1988 to 2003.

A lifelong athlete, Parker was captain of the Juco basketball team, won the City Tennis Championship 10 times and the City Table Tennis Championship 13 times.

He was also active in local, state and national golf associations, serving twice as President of Prairie Dunes, President of the Kansas Golf Association and a member of the U.S. Golf Association Senior Committee.

In 1996, Parker was named Hutchinson Community College Alumnus of the year.

Survivors include: his wife, Gail, of Hutchinson; son, Ronald, of Los Angeles; brother, Jack, of Haven; and was preceded in death by a son, Robert, who died in 1970.

Funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Monday at Holy Cross Catholic Church with Father Joseph Eckberg presiding, with burial to follow at Penwell-Gabel Cemetery and Mausoleum, with military graveside honors conducted by the U.S. Naval Reserves. Friends may call from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Elliott Mortuary, Hutchinson.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Hutchinson Community College Endowment Association. Personal condolences may be sent to www.elliottmortuary.com.