Hillyer Sealy Parker (1905-1968)

From the 1940 Tulane "Jambalaya" yearbook.

  Lifelong Monroe, Louisiana resident Hillyer Sealy Parker served in several prominent public posts in Ouachita Parish, being a one-term state representative, assistant city attorney, assistant district attorney, and in the six years prior to his death was a judge for Louisiana's 4th judicial district. Born in Monroe on April 16, 1905, Hillyer Sealy Parker was the son of leading local cotton trader and planter John Peyton Parker (1854-1929) and the former Marie Camille Stephens. A student in schools local to Monroe, young Hillyer was a member of the Monroe High School graduating class of 1924 and four years later graduated from the Louisiana State University.

  Having decided upon a career in law, Parker undertook further study at the Tulane Law School, earning his degree in 1933. After his admittance to the Louisiana bar in July 1933, Parker established a law practice in Monroe and would later marry Helen Womack (1913-1998). The couple's union saw the births of two sons, Bruce Stephens (born 1943) and William Hillyer Parker (1946-2017). 

  In 1940 Parker entered the political life of his state when he won election to the Louisiana House of Representatives from Ouachita Parish. His term extended from 1940-1943, resigning in the last-named year to join the U.S. Army. Prior to his resignation, Parker entered the Democratic primary race for district judge in September 1942 but lost out in the vote count on election day.

   Information regarding Parker's service in the military following his resignation from the house remains scant. He was discharged sometime in 1946 from "the armed forces" and returned to Monroe, and in 1947 he took on the post of assistant campaign manager former Governor Sam Houston Jones, then running for a second term. Touting Jones' platform of "clean and efficient government", Parker saw Jones' campaign go down to defeat in the Democratic primary of 1948, losing out to former Governor Earl Kemp Long.

From the Jena Times, October 30, 1947. 

   In 1948 Hillyer Parker was selected as assistant city attorney for Monroe, an office he'd continue in until July 1956. In that year he advanced to the post of assistant district attorney for the Fourth Judicial District, where he served until 1962. In that year Parker was elected as district court judge for Louisiana's Fourth judicial district and was one of three judges to serve that court. He served on the bench until his death at age 62 on March 31, 1968, following hospitalization for a long illness. He was survived by his wife and sons and later was interred at the Mulhearn Memorial Park Cemetery in Monroe. 

From the Monroe News-Star, April 1, 1968.