(click on any image to make it larger)
The above photo was put on Facebook by Joe Jenkins after he enhanced it by touching up the newspapers pixels.
I put the below article on Chicken-fat.com, August 12, 2006:
Perry Parham was my first friend, my age to die. It was a jolt of reality. We could get killed doing things..
Perry was riding his bike in the dusk hour and got ran over by a motorist who didn't see him. He was killed instantly. Blood was all over the street.
Perry was a great baseball player. We both were on Marietta Little League teams. We both went to Waterman Street School and both lived in the same section of town. We knew each other by name and have played together several times. But I can't say we were best friends, but I was still shocked.
They named the Little League field in town The Perry Parham Memorial Baseball Field. And they have the above memorial marker. Every year on the first day of the season the little Miss Little League and Mr. Little League, after they are photographed, with the little girl holding the bouquet they go to the marker and place the flowers.
A year or so after that terrible accident his parents divorced and both moved away. His older brother Clayton on his class's reunion list is listed as "Whereabouts - Unknown". The family vaporized.
A couple days ago Perry's nephew Greg sent the below comment to the article on the blog:
greg has left a new comment on your post "Perry Parham (1940-1953)":
Found this blog doing some family tree research. Perry Parham would have been my uncle. I'm the son of his brother, Clayton. Clay also played at the ball park and ran the scoreboard as one of his first jobs as a teenager.
My grandparents (Jim and Elia) didn't divorce, and I don't think they moved away near that time either. Family was in Marietta until the 90s when my dad moved them out to NC.
It's a real honor to see that the ball players still pay tribute to Perry at season start. I saw the memorial on a trip to Georgia when I was 13 - the same age of Perry when he died. Haven't been back since.
Clayton alive and well in SC.
Thanks for posting.
Greg
Found this blog doing some family tree research. Perry Parham would have been my uncle. I'm the son of his brother, Clayton. Clay also played at the ball park and ran the scoreboard as one of his first jobs as a teenager.
My grandparents (Jim and Elia) didn't divorce, and I don't think they moved away near that time either. Family was in Marietta until the 90s when my dad moved them out to NC.
It's a real honor to see that the ball players still pay tribute to Perry at season start. I saw the memorial on a trip to Georgia when I was 13 - the same age of Perry when he died. Haven't been back since.
Clayton alive and well in SC.
Thanks for posting.
Greg
Perry's grave at Mountain View Cemetery in Marietta. His grave is near my Hunter Grandparents.
Yesterday Perry's brother Clayton Parham sent me this:
Eddie, I am Perry's brother. My son, Greg, who lives in Littleton, CO, forwarded the reference to your blog after his wife, Erin, came across it during an ancestry search. I am flattered that you remembered him so fondly. I did want to point, however, that some of your facts are wrong. Perry was not killed instantly. He did at Kennestone Hospital a few days later. Additionally, while my mother did move to Illinois to live with me for a short time, my parents were never divorced. They lived in Marietta until 1994, when they moved to North Carolina where I resided.
I currently iive in Seneca, SC. I am married, have three children, and seven grandchildren. Fortunately, I am in good health and stay active.
I thank you, as I know my parents would, for remembering and writing about Perry.
Clayton
Instead of making the corrections I thought it would be best letting Greg and Clayton's own words speak for them. I wrote Clayton and told him I would have a correction in a day or so. I didn't think at the time of using his own words, or put him to work so to speak, giving out the correction. I got in enough hot water using hearsay already. I also asked Clayton was Perry ran over on Gramlin Street or Hedges Street. I said I thought it was Gramlin Street but recently someone told me he was sure it happened on Hedges Street. As Clayton said below, it was Hedges Street. Wrong again.
Eddie, I am Perry's brother. My son, Greg, who lives in Littleton, CO, forwarded the reference to your blog after his wife, Erin, came across it during an ancestry search. I am flattered that you remembered him so fondly. I did want to point, however, that some of your facts are wrong. Perry was not killed instantly. He did at Kennestone Hospital a few days later. Additionally, while my mother did move to Illinois to live with me for a short time, my parents were never divorced. They lived in Marietta until 1994, when they moved to North Carolina where I resided.
I currently iive in Seneca, SC. I am married, have three children, and seven grandchildren. Fortunately, I am in good health and stay active.
I thank you, as I know my parents would, for remembering and writing about Perry.
Clayton
I appreciate your responding. Yes, Perry was struck by a car while riding a bike on Hedges St, and yes I did attend Waterman St, and was two grades ahead of Perry. His death was hard on our family, but particularly so for my father.
I look forward to seeing your revision. Thanks for doing so.
Clayton
In an Arcadia Press book of pictures of Cobb County of days gone by. The above picture came from the book. It is a picture of Fisherman’s Grill Little League Team. The other day I was looking at it. The second kid on the left is/was Perry Parham. His father is the adult coach on the far right. Perry was about as good as you can get baseball player for his age. Perry played the first two seasons the Little League organization was in Marietta.
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