James "JC" Parker, 83, of Fernandina Beach and Newcastle, Maine, passed away on the morning of October 11, 2017 at his home in Newcastle.
He was born on October 19, 1933 in St. Barnabas Hospital in Newark, N.J. to Rosamond and Horton Parker, of Nutley, N.J.
In 1945, his parents moved to Glen Rock, N.J., where Jim graduated from Ridgewood High School in 1951. He attended the University of Virginia until 1953, and then was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1954. He served with the Army Security Agency as a radio operator in Korea, where he monitored North Korean and Chinese radio activity until being discharged in 1956.
He married Patricia Boyle, of Ridgewood, N.J. in 1961. He returned to the University of Virginia and graduated in 1963 with a bachelor of civil engineering degree. Upon graduation, he joined The Lummus Company, a major international engineering, procurement and construction firm, as a field engineer and retired from ABB Lummus Global in 1998 after 35 years of service.
His working career included numerous field and office assignments in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Venezuela, and Iraq – including the $1.4 billion Great Plains Coal Gasification Plant in North Dakota in 1983, the largest turnkey petrochemical project ever built in the U.S. at the time, on schedule and under budget, which led to a position as vice president of construction for the eastern hemisphere. Due to a reduction in force in 1986, he held a position as vice president of project controls for Leher/McGovern, a construction firm in NYC, for six months. He returned to Lummus Global as a construction director and project director on a number of multi-million dollar projects in the U.S., Iraq, Siberia, and Saudi Arabia until his retirement in 1998.
He spent his retirement years split between his homes in Maine and Florida, with a short sojourn in Costa Rica, peddling hot dogs from a Sabrett hot dog cart. He enjoyed his golf and tinkering and driving his many antique cars, especially his MG-TC, Jag XK-120 and Alfa Romeo Giulietta, and his Harley Low Rider.
James was predeceased by his wife, Patricia, in 1990 and by his brother, David, in 2008.
He is survived by his five children, Timothy and wife, Nicola, Cynthia, Jonathan and wife, Cynthia, Jesse, and Michael, as well as seven grandchildren, Lukas, Nicholas, Ian, Abigail, James, Dale and Patricia.
A graveside service was held at 11 a.m. Saturday, October 14, 2017 at St. Patrick’s Cemetery in Newcastle. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Cancer Society, 1 Bowdoin Mill Island, No. 300, Topsham, ME 04086.
Strong-Hancock Funeral Home