Mark Dorsey: Parker Waller was an
original. He followed his passions with
determination and gusto. He loved
outdoor activities and his family. He
was always trying out new things in
the outdoors from teaching me Dutch
oven cooking, camping in the wild, to
white water canoeing and paddling
across the Okefenokee Swamp.
Kirk Little: Parker and I were friends
for forty years. He was not counterfeit;
What you saw is what you got. When
Parker died, the last thing he said to
Judy (his wife) was very “Parker-like.”
She was sitting on the edge of his bed
crying, and Parker said to her, “It will
be all right.” And then he died. That
is how Parker lived his life—knowing
that it will be all right.
How did Parker influence your
appreciation of nature/the river?
Karl Owens: He was a leader and
expressed that leadership by example.
Whether it was organizing and leading
a river clean up on the Ohoopee or he
and I paddling to meet up with our
camping buddies on a moonlit night,
he was never afraid or too lazy to
just go do it. Some of my closest and
dearest friends are paddlers. Spending
extended periods of time with
kindred souls on uncomfortable and
sometimes dangerous adventure trips
creates a bond and a brotherhood that
is basic and lasting.
Mark Miller: He influenced me by
the way he cared for the river and his
desire to conserve it.
Mark Dorsey: I will always love the
river. It has given me so many lifelong
friends and pleasures that will last a
lifetime.
Kirk Little: Every time I paddled with
Parker, it felt like a new experience,
and I would always learn something
new about the river we were paddling
and/or the land that we were paddling
through. But the best thing that
Parker taught me was how to approach
life. He would tell me how he would
handle a certain situation,
and it was always in a
way that was easy going
and non-combative. And
this was exactly how he
would paddle a river! He
would take what the river
gave him with a grateful
attitude, even when the
waters were rough. He was
always calm and steady.
He never got rattled, and
even when he turned over,
it was always taken as a
natural part of paddling
the river.
What are some of your
favorite memories with
Parker?
Karl Owens: Whether
it was a 3-day river
whitewater weekend trip to the
mountains, an 80 mile/4 day trip down
the Altamaha, or 3 to 4 nights sleeping
on islands and platforms throughout
the Okefenokee Swamp, there was
always an adventure out there to
experience with Parker that didn’t
include an attendant and a safety belt.
Mark Miller: One of my personal
favorites is when he and I went
camping on Noontootla Creek in the
North Georgia mountains. That night,
Parker slept on the ground by the
fire. The next morning, I went trout
fishing on another stream. When I got
back later that afternoon, the fire was
still smoking and his things were still
around, but Parker was gone. After a
while, I began to worry. I finally found
him in the middle of the stream in
his Canoe chair drinking his favorite
beverage and reading Canoe and Kayak
Magazine without a care in the world.
That memory symbolizes Parker for
me.
Mark Dorsey: I was lucky to get to
experience being on the river with
Parker all my life. Traveling on rivers
and streams that were the first
highways in the world, we shared
seeing all kinds of wildlife up close,
knowing that these pathways had been
traveled since the beginning of time by
the native people of America and first
settlers.
Pointing to a picture, Mark said,
“We were canoeing down the river,
and he saw this log. He jumped right
into the river and swam over to it.
I hollered, ‘There’s probably snakes
in there!’ He said, ‘I don’t care about
no snakes,’ and he swam up in it and
popped his head up.
Kirk Little: We enjoyed canoeing,
camping, hunting, hiking and just
about anything that a person can do
outdoors. We canoed many rivers
together such as the Nantahala,
Little Tennessee, Chattahoochee,
Suwanee, Amicalola Falls, and the
mighty Chattooga, where the movie
Deliverance was filmed.
In 1988, Parker and I spent a week
in the North Carolina mountains
together. The trip was during a time
that I was really having trouble dealing
with a particular part of the river (life),
and I needed some time and a good
place to plan how I was going to run
this rapid. We talked about different
subjects like God, family, friends,
women–much of the time was spent
not saying anything. I think Parker
knew that I needed some time to heal
and a friend to just be with me.
We read the Bible every day and
discussed the meaning of many verses.
As a result of that trip I read the Bible
116 TOOMBS COUNTY MAGAZINE