A pioneer in Sampson County’s history of print journalism, James “Jim” Parker passed away on Sunday at 93, bringing to a close a lifetime dedicated to leading, teaching and story-telling, ensuring readers were informed about issues impacting their lives and communities.
Parker’s integrity was well-known and respected and the love he had for his craft was infectious among those who worked with and for him. He served as an influential voice in Sampson for two decades and, over the years, he helped develop dozens of employees who would go on to be leaders — editors, publishers, managers — in their own right, impacting this community and those beyond Sampson’s borders.
“I can only give you the highest praise for this man,” said Bob Dixon, who worked as an advertising representative at The Independent from 1978 to 1982. “He helped mold me not only into a newspaper person, but a person in general. He’s the finest boss I’ve ever worked for, period. He was a man of integrity, class, you name it. Those years were maybe the best of my life working at a newspaper.”
A graduate of Tarboro High School, Parker served his country in WWII, earning a Purple Heart. After three years of military service, he went on to the University of North Carolina’s School of Journalism, where he graduated in 1949. The following year, he married the love of his life, the former Hallie Stewart McLean of Lenoir. They were married for 67 years.
After school, Parker started out at the Chatham News in Siler City, serving as news editor as well as editor of its sister publication The Liberty News. In 1966, he and Hallie came to Clinton, where Parker became editor and publisher of The Sampsonian. The paper was owned at that time by Earl Howard, father of local attorney Tim Howard.
“He was a close family friend,” Tim Howard said of Parker. “He was a newspaper man from the old school. He had a sense of the community and he sought to reflect that in the pages of the newspaper. My father considered him a prince of a fellow. He respected him completely and admired his integrity and journalistic abilities. He was dedicated to his craft; it wasn’t merely a living.”
As a teen, Howard worked as a “gopher” for the Sampsonian in the mid-1960s, doing various tasks for a short time before Parker purchased the paper from his father Earl (who passed in the late-1970s). He recalled Parker’s tireless work ethic. He didn’t just put together the content for the paper, but inserted the ads and even drove the paper to and from The Mount Olive Tribune, where the Sampsonian was printed back then.
In 1976, The Sampsonian merged with The Sampson Independent, then owned by James Boone.
“Jim was first an honorable but tough competitor with his weekly newspaper against The Independent, which my company acquired and brought me to seek a guarded acquaintance with Jim,” said Boone, who at 82 still serves as chairman of the board for Boone Newspapers Inc., based in Tuscaloosa, Ala. “He quickly gained my respect and admiration for his product and his principles.”
After some time, Boone approached Parker with a proposal to acquire The Sampsonian and bring Parker on as an owner of The Independent, which would move from twice weekly to daily. The two papers had both been successful, pushing each other to be great through “vigorous competition,” Howard recalled. Dixon and Howard said the newspaper business was booming during that period.
Parker, who owned the majority of The Sampsonian — his friend and partner Joel Starling owned a substantial minority interest — mulled the proposal over for months, ultimately agreeing to the merge and the role as part-owner, editor and publisher of The Independent.
”When Jim decided to join us, along with Joel, I asked how Jim would like to divide their interest. He said that he and Joel had worked well as partners, and to divide their interest equally. That is the kind of man he was,” Boone recalled.
In 1978-79, Parker was elected president of the North Carolina Press Association, having previously been vice president and a member of the board of directors. He also served a term as director of the Journalism Foundation of UNC and was chairman of both the Chatham County and Sampson County library boards. Park Communications bought the Independent in 1983, and Parker retired three years later, moving to Micaville in Yancey County.
“The daily newspaper we formed succeeded, and some years later we sold it to the late Roy Parks and his company. Jim and Joel came out very well, as did I,” said Boone.
Starling was publisher of one of Boone’s Alabama daily newspapers until his death and both Parker and Starling stayed close with Boone in the decades that followed their Independent partnership.
“He and Jim remained as my valued friends throughout their lives,” Boone said. “Both were ‘builders’ in their help to others moving up, and both were men of their words and principles.”
In 2001, Jim and Hallie were honored by their daughter Stewart with the establishment of the James H. and Hallie McLean Parker Professorship at the School of Journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill.
“Jim Parker was a good man and Jim and Hallie have great children (two daughters and three sons) who have gone on to be very successful,” said Howard. “That is a testament to their parents, Jim and Hallie.”
Parker led by example, and many were influenced by that — from his children, to his close friends and to those he mentored, who became his extended family. Now 65, Dixon recalled responding to the News & Observer ad taken out by Parker, who was seeking an ad rep for The Independent.
He recalled walking into Parker’s office on a summer day in July 1978, where Parker promptly offered him the job — a shock to Dixon. Parker had already sized him up, called his references and made his decision before Dixon stepped through the door. Dixon quickly accepted.
“Even today, I consider the next nearly four years working for Jim Parker, and the next decade getting his advice before he retired, maybe the most satisfying and most learning of my life and career,” said Dixon. “He was a special boss and special person who knew how to pick good quality staff.”
Dixon said he voiced the sentiments of the countless people who associated with Parker through the years. Former Independent publisher Debby Chiarella also had praise for the man.
“I worked under his leadership for a few years before his retirement,” Chiarella stated. “I found him to be both honest and fair.”
Even with all the accolades, Dixon said he believes Parker was filled with the most pride when he watched his employees grow within the newspaper profession.
“Jim respected us and pushed us to achieve to our best and, in return, anyone who ever worked for him never had a bad word to say about him and would perform at their highest level to get his approval,” Dixon stated.
Following what would be his final encounter with his beloved boss in late November 2015, Dixon penned a blog entry entitled “Ode to Jim Parker.” Dixon heard that Parker’s son Michael, an accomplished author in his own right, would be back in Clinton for a book-signing. Word was his father would be there too.
Knowing how life tends to happen, Dixon thought it might be the last time he saw his old mentor. He recounted the familiar gleam in Parker’s 91-year-old eyes when his met Dixon’s, nearly four decades after he hired the 20-something ad rep on that summer day. The two old friends had a great conversation, reminiscing about the old times and ruminating on the new.
Then they said goodbye.
“Thank you Jim Parker for the memories,” Dixon concluded in his tribute, “the years of setting an example I always wanted to live up to, and most importantly the personal approval that comes from those who see that twinkle in your eye and know that means they are and will always be part of your extended newspaper family.”