Bill Parker passes away

[byline]

I received this message today from the De La Salle Oakland Crusaders Alumni:

It is with regret that we inform you of the death of Bill Parker on January 25, 2008.

Bill was Director of the De La Salle Drum Corps from 1957 to well into the 60s.

Bill marched in the Blue and Gold while attending De La Salle and, after "aging out", marched with 2nd Signals Military Band for several years.

He was also Deputy Chief Judge of the Canadian Drum Corps Judges Association.

The family will receive friends at the McEachnie Funeral Home (28 Old Kingston Rd., Ajax, 905-428-8488) on Sunday, January 27, 2008 from 7-9 p.m. and on Monday from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. The Funeral Mass will be held on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Isaac Jogues Roman Catholic Church (1148 Finch Ave. East, Pickering). Interment will take place at Christ the King Cemetery. If one so desires, donations to the Diabetes Association would be appreciated by the family. A Book of Condolence may be signed at www.mceachnie-funeral.ca

I also received a second message with a text-file attachment. There's so much history there that I think folks could benefit from, as well as learning about the significance of Bill's contributions to Del and Canadian drum corps:

The attached note, courtesy of Dan Moloney, details the significant role Bill played in the founding of the De La Salle Drum Corps.

Bill Parker

January 25, 2008

A Summary Of His History With De La Salle Courtesy Of Dan Moloney

Bill became a student at De La Salle in 1945 and immediately joined the Blue & Gold as a bugler. By the beginning of his second year Bill was already showing tendencies towards “leadership” and was made one of the instructors for new recruits. To be honest, back in those days, this was a pretty easy job. There were only about five playable notes on a bugle so almost anyone could handle it. To really play a tune you actually needed at least two buglers. One played the “open” notes (so to speak) and the other guy used a “crook” to play the notes in between.

But around 1948, two things happened. First, a single piston valve was added so one guy could (more or less) play the whole tune. And second, baritone and tenor horns were invented so “harmony” became possible. Bill, of course, immediately volunteered to take on this new technology and actually started up the first baritone section.

By 1951 Bill had worked his way through high school (let’s assume he graduated) and left the band to join the famous 2nd Signal Regiment which a few years later (once “drum corps” got really underway in Canada) became Canada’s Marching Ambassadors.

But joining the Signal Regiment was not as straightforward as it sounds. Back in those days Del (like most bands) had an unbreakable rule. If you wanted to play in the Blue & Gold you were not allowed to play in any other band. The story goes that one of Bill’s good friends in Del had a brother in the army who had recently come back from overseas and had joined Signals. When Bill heard that his friend had decided to join his brother and leave Del, he felt it was his duty to crash a Signals rehearsal and drag his buddy out. Instead, Bill was so impressed with the organization he ended up taking home a bugle and a uniform and that was almost the end of his initial career with Del. I say “almost” because Bill didn’t mention this development to anyone immediately. He hung in with Del for another few weeks to make sure he received his 5 year medal and his promotion to Bugle Sergeant was officially entered into the De La Salle records.

For seven years Bill played with Signals until in 1958 he got a call from Werner Nuss and Ernie Wesson back at Del. It seems the Blue & Gold was getting fewer and fewer invitations or engagements in those days and Werner, Ernie and Cos Capone decided they had to do something. They had been working closely with Brother Hilary to come up with a solution and Bill and Mike Delaney were recruited to help make the transition.

Once Bill was “on board” the first order of business was to acquire a brand new set of GD bugles from Whaley Royce to replace the worn out Bb bugles from ten years earlier. The next step was to drop the famous gold capes and navy blue military uniforms so the band could better handle the new “marching and manoeuvring” field show and truly become a “drum corps”.

The transition was an immediate success and Bill stayed with the new De La Salle Drum Corps straight through to the late sixties. And a couple of years after that he came back again for a year or two when the corps was once again working its way through another major transition.

As a school graduate (I was just kidding earlier) and a committed supporter of De La Salle “Oaklands” and its almost 90 years of band history it was good to see Bill back with the DOCA Alumni.

And after 40 plus years without a horn in his hand it was fun to see him squeak a few notes out of that G baritone at our first DOCA Ensemble session.

He also served as Deputy Chief Judge of the Canadian Drum Corps Judges Association.

[SBrancheau]

My sincere condolences to the De La Salle and Oakland families!

Mr. Parker's family and friends are in my thoughts.

Sue, thanks for posting this.

Sally

[GGarrett]

Sounds like he was a great guy, and an important, involved person from the early years that helped bring drum corps into what it has become over the years.

Vaya con Dios, Bill Parker... thank you for all you did.

[Walter]

On behalf of the Northstar Youth Organization and the Dutch Boy Drum Corps, please pass our condolences to Bill's family and the De La Salle family.

R.I.P. BILL

[canonrt]

Condolences to the Parker family.

I didn't know Bill, but thanx to byline & my Bridgemen brother Dan, I got the next best thing.

The stories need to be told while we can still tell them.....................John N