Remembering a soldier and friend

By Jessica Coleman
Staff Writer
Prosthetic limbs. Service dogs. Military uniforms. The unmistakable rumble of dozens of motorcycles. A mixture of laughter at shared memories and tears over the fresh loss of a young man.

All of these things crowded in and around First Baptist Church in Edna on Feb. 11, as friends, family, and military brothers said goodbye to Jarrett Parker.

Parker’s casket, designed by his good friend and employer Trey Ganem, was carried to Memory Gardens Cemetery by Chopphearse Central Texas who used a motorcycle with a sidecar designed for a casket.

Parker was an Air Force veteran and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder sufferer who spent much of his time volunteering for veterans’ causes and organizations such as 22 Until None, an organization dedicated to preventing veterans’ suicide, and the ReGroup Foundation, an organization that fights veteran homelessness, and many more. He campaigned for better, more complete medical options for veterans who come home from war with PTSD and traumatic brain injury.

According to the Edna Police Department, Amber Sorenson, 34, of Edna called Jackson County Dispatch just before 1 a.m. on Feb. 7 saying she had shot her boyfriend. Parker, 33, was dead from a single gunshot wound to the chest. A .40 caliber handgun was found on the bed nearby. Sorenson said that morning and at a later date that she shot Parker in self defense. According to Edna Police Chief Clinton Wooldridge, the case will be heard by a grand jury in March.

Preliminary autopsy results revealed only that Parker died from a gunshot wound to the chest, and that the manner of death was homicide.
Medically, “homicide” is a broad term. “Homicide” simply means “not an accident, and not a suicide.”

According to Justice of the Peace Darren Stancik, full autopsy results won’t be available for up to six weeks.