Glenn Parker (judge)

Parker was born in Murray, Iowa, to Charles Theron Parker (1851–1932) 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 1924, a law degree.[2][3] 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] 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.[5][2][3] Parker was chief justice from January 1, 1963, to January 2, 1967, and from January 1, 1973, to January 2, 1975.[6] 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]

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]