Thomas Wirthlin Parker passed away peacefully on Sunday, January 22, 2017, following a brief and unexpected illness. Our beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, and friend was born April 15, 1942 to Thomas Oliver and Judith Wirthlin Parker in Salt Lake City. Raised in a strong and loving home that valued and emphasized family, the Restored Gospel, and community service, Dad defined his life through service, including as a member of the Utah National Guard and as an LDS missionary in Frankfurt, Germany.
He served faithfully in many church callings, serving over the years as gospel doctrine teacher, as a counselor in a bishopric, even teaching early morning Seminary to scores of sleepy teens in Bellevue, Washington. It is impossible to calculate but wonderful to contemplate the lives and generations that have been blessed by his legendary service as a Stake Missionary and Stake Mission President in the Northwest, serving, teaching and converting many with the message of the Restored Gospel. As a Home Teacher, he cared for countless families in need, both within and outside the circle of his ward family. Throughout his entire life, playing the organ for his first congregations at the age of twelve, runs the unbroken thread of Music, bearing witness and testimony of Christ at the organ console and at the keyboard. Most recently, Dad served as the senior member of the Salt Lake Stake High Council, where he diligently labored and completed assignments right up to the very end.
Dad married the love of his life, Joanne McCrea, on January 8, 1965 in the Salt Lake Temple. Their married and professional lives are a true partnership, and serve as a pattern of devoted love, loyalty, and real teamwork for their family and friends. Their individual skills, talents, and abilities perfectly complemented one another, and together they lifted each other and those around them. An attorney by training with a keen, analytical mind, Dad was also a talented musician, composer and a strong advocate for the arts. Dad understood the power of music and theater in teaching, entertaining, and lifting people, particularly young people.
Together with Mom, Dad produced thousands of performances of plays, musicals, and concerts. Beginning with the pageant marking the dedication of the Seattle Temple, Dad oversaw a myriad of performances in many venues. Inspired by President Spencer W. Kimball\s charge to lengthen the stride and preach the Gospel to multitudes, Dad and Mom resolved to consecrate their lives to the work of uplifting and teaching those multitudes through their talents and gifts. Armed with this resolve, he returned to Utah to oversee Promised Valley Playhouse, and then with Mom and their children and friends built the Salt Lake Repertory Theater, which became City Rep, and lives on today as the Utah Children's Theatre. The decades of Dad\s tireless commitment to the theater and the community shine as an ongoing legacy to the importance of the arts in building and enlightening both the audiences, as well as to those backstage by providing a venue for actors, technicians, and artists to develop their talents and broaden their horizons.
But their greatest production is their family: five children and their eighteen grandchildren. Dad was an infinite source of wisdom, of information, practical know-how, jokes, and insight that we all came to depend on. More than anything he loved to serve and spend time with his great joy: his family, and he was always just a phone call away when he was needed. This example of family devotion and the traditions he built with Mom for the family to delight in are a priceless and inexhaustible inheritance.
Dad was a true disciple of Christ, always ready to minister or to provide a listening ear and offer kind, nonjudgmental, and empathetic insight, particularly to his children and family. His mind was always occupied with thoughts of how to best support and improve the lives of his children and he most often showed his love for his family through phone calls and quiet conversations. While this interaction with Dad will be painfully missed, we know his commitment to his family remains unchanged and continues into the eternities.
Dad is survived by his wife Joanne Parker, children Jennifer Hohl (Michael), Amy Richardson (Owen), Ben (Amy), Emily Holmgren (Nels), and James (Emily), eighteen grandchildren, his four brothers and sister along with their spouses.
A viewing will be held onFriday, January 27thfrom6-8pmat Larkin Mortuary, 260 E. South Temple, Salt Lake City. An additional viewing will be held from9:30-10:30amprior to the funeral at11amonSaturday, January 28that the Salt Lake Stake Center, 142 W 200 N., Salt Lake City.
