Parker Hardin French

Parker Hardin French, III, age 93, resident of Arlington, Tennessee, departed this life Wednesday morning, October 3, 2018 at his residence.

Funeral Services for Mr. French were held at 3 P.M. Saturday, October 6, 2018 at the Peebles West Funeral Chapel at Oakland. Interment with Military Honors followed in the Arlington Cemetery. Arrangements were provided by Peebles Fayette County Funeral Homes & Cremation Center - West Chapel at Oakland.

He was born in Cape Cod, Massachusetts on September 11, 1925, the son of Parker H. French II and Lillian Jennings French. During World War II (1943-1945) he served in the Navy on a Liberty ship. After the war, he moved to Detroit, Michigan where he worked as an electrician for Ford Motor Company.  It was in Detroit that he was baptized and became a Christian.  He, then, attended Freed-Hardeman College from 1951 to 1953 where he met and married Joyce Steakley in August of 1953.

Thereafter he served as a full-time minister of the gospel in the Churches of Christ for 53 years until he retired in 2006. His located works included churches in Minco, Oklahoma, Caraway, Arkansas, Nashville, Tennessee (Woodbine, Rains Ave, and Pennington Bend), Knoxville, Tennessee (Vestle), Camden, Tennessee, Somerville, Tennessee, Baldwyn, Mississippi, Corinth, Mississippi (Fraley’s Chapel) and Hazel, Kentucky. He also served as a missionary in Pakistan and Australia from 1971 until 1973.  Even as he was retiring from full-time ministry, he continued to make annual trips to Zambia, Africa to teach Bible at Mapepe Bible College from 2005 until 2012. Upon retiring from full-time ministry in 2006, he and his wife moved to Arlington, Tennessee.

Parker is survived by his wife, Joyce; his three sons, David (missionary to Zambia), John (church elder, CEO of Southland Landscaping and retired Memphis Fireman/Paramedic) and Ron (retired Firefighter/Paramedic and Realtor). There are nine grandchildren, Jonathan, Ben, Stephen, Kerin, Lisa, Natasha, Colton, Callie, and Canyon (four of whom have served or are serving in African missions). And, in addition, there are nine great-grandchildren, Sawyer, Zoe, Naomi, Gabriella, Susann, Zainne, Likandó, Hazel Rose and Nalukena.

The family requests that memorials be directed to the Zambia Missions , 1910 Sycamore View Road, Memphis, Tennessee 38134.