EMAIL NICK PARKER

 
PHONE
(806) 786-0925
Nick Paker
ADDRESS
7805 Zoar
Lubbock, Texas 79424

MY TO-DO LIST

 

As a start, a quick review of my professional life provides a background. I was a government research scientist for 32 years and director of a small research laboratory until 1989. As director I oversaw the research of several students from around the world and throughout the U.S. I served on the graduate committee of these students and was appointed Adjunct Professor at 14 universities. I was never paid by a university but once taught genetics in a small college and in return was able to collect all the horse manure needed as fertilizer for my garden. I taught classes for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Veterinarian Division of the Department of Agriculture and other agencies. About half of my time, I was somewhere other than home. Official travel carried me to many sites in North and South America, Europe, the Mideast, Russia and Australia. I was half of a two-man team reviewing government lands suitable for potential research facilities primarily in eastern and southern states. In 1989 my 35th address was Lubbock, Texas where I became a member of the graduate faculty of Texas Tech University. In 2003 I retired from government service and departed from Texas Tech University. After retiring I became so busy I don’t know how there was ever any time for my professional life. Here’s what I do today.

  1. Backyard Mission is a big part of my About 12 to 18 volunteer retirees meet weekly to help those 60 and older get their homes warm and dry. We put in new doors, locks, windows, storm windows, storm doors, minor electrical and plumbing repair, sheetrock repair, facia and siding repair, remove or trim trees, and with other partners roof replacement or repair. Eligible clients must live in their own home and have limited income. Our work is structural, functional and not cosmetic but we do try to leave a site as attractive and safe as possible. These repairs are at no cost to the homeowner; Backyard Mission, established in September 1992 by Laurie Foster, is funded by donations and grants. To date BYM has repaired about 1,800 homes.

  2. Habitat for Humanity-Lubbock uses volunteers to build homes and communities to primarily serve first-time I worked on my first Habitat home in 2000 and in 2025 completed house number 40 for me. In 2010 I was the only man on the women’s-built home. Most of these women had never used a chop saw, a nail gun or involved in any construction. They did a marvelous job and were appreciative that due to recent oral surgery I could only whisper. They said that’s the way they liked their men. This year. 3 October-9 October 2026. I’ll be working to build house number 41. Occupants of these new homes must have committed 250 hours of sweat equity and attend classes on home maintenance, finance, and safety. They must also be able to pay for the house and its utilities. Habibat carries a 30-year mortgage on the houses with an interest free loan.

  3. The Lubbock Lions Club meets weekly for lunch and to hear presentations by guest speakers. The Club has given over $ 1.8 million to local charitable and service organizations since its founding in The Lions motto is “WE SERVE”, and we do. I’ve been a Lion for 44 years, Past President of Marion, Alabama Lions and this year was honored by Lubbock Lions for lifetime membership. And I thought only old guys got this type of award. Well? Lubbock Lions owns the world record for serving pancakes to 20,000+ people in 2010 during our annual pancake festival. In 2026 the Pancake Festival ordered 6,000 pounds of pancake mix, 72,000 sausage links, 60,000 ounces of syrup, 240 gallons of coffee and much more. At Christmas time the Club rings bells to raise funds for the Salvation Army. Some members serve on the Salvation Army Disaster Response Team, pack boxes for the FOOD Bank, work with Meals on Wheels, sell flags during the 4th of July parade to raise funds for the Scouts of America. The Club conducts a one-day event, Kids Fish, to provide fishing and training for youth. My major participation in these events has been to assist with setup, solicit items for the raffle and to take hundreds of photos.

  4. Christ the King Diocesan Schools conducts a Science Fair for their students each year and for several years I have served as a judge and in some cases an advisor for students. Similarly, I’ve provided presentations and guidance for some students in the Lubbock Independent School.

  5. As a member of the Lakeridge Global Methodist Church, I’ve worked with others to prepare hotdogs for Texas Tech students and community members at the Wesley Foundation, provided gifts for children of need at Christmas, and assisted with community building projects, fence repair and tree trimming.

  6. The Sideways Collision Center in Lubbock takes up most of my I’m there nearly every day doing construction, electrical, plumbing and facility maintenance work. This week I assisted in putting up sheetrock, installed a mini-split AC unit, rewired an auto lift, decked an upstairs storage area, and replaced the contactor in a three-phase magnetic starter for a 5-hp compressor. I’ve just had a three-stage forklift cylinder rebuilt and will begin reassembly immediately. This week we had a milestone accomplishment as we remover the engine, then the body from a 1967 Triumph TR4A for a frame-off restoration. It will be a beauty when finished. I do work for Sideways and they do work for me. I have 9 or 10, or maybe more, old cars and a 6.000-pound capacity Clark forklift. Three of these autos are licensed and run, another has the engine and drive chain rebuilt but needs to be painted and reassembled. Others are in some state of repair or awaiting finding or making the correct parts.
    The Sideways-owned shop, Legacy Collision Center, in Midland is 2 hours away from Lubbock. On occasion we get up at 4:30, leave Lubbock at 6:00, get to Midland at 8:00 AM work until 5:00PM and get back to Lubbock at 7:00PM. Normally we try to leave Midland at 3:00PM and get back to Lubbock at 5:00PM. The new shop in Midland is 12,000 ft2 and has 51 8-ft fluorescent lights in one section and 20 in another. I’ve removed the ballast from these lights and converted them to LEDs. The electrical service for the building is being upgraded to a 600-amp supply and will support two large paint booths, each with two 5-hp blowers and a 15-hp compressor plus other smaller equipment.
  1. The Caprock Peace Officers held their 77th snake shoot in 2026. They will typically have about 50 rattlesnakes and the officers with the highest scores from paper targets in each division pair off to shoot live rattlesnakes. The officers have a guest division and I once won 1st place there, but only After the shoot I take all snakes home and immediately skin and dress those that have been shot. Those that were not shot I save for the Scouts. I get the head and they get the snake. The Scouts must identify internal body parts from their snake, be able to determine males from females, skin their snake, place the skin in a tanning solution, eviscerate the snake and prepare the carcass for cooking. They learn about the history of tanning when men used both urine and animal brains as tanning agents. There was a time when people could collect urine and sell it to tanners. To collect urine, they had to have a pot. If they had no pot, they were very poor, piss poor.
    One year, of the 50 snakes from the snake shoot, 48 were males. I kept the two females and one of them had five albino babies. In the wild these albinos would have had a very short life. Their lack of camouflage made them very visible; they would have been dinner for some other critter. I gave the albinos to a wildlife rehab and rescue center. Two of these albinos lived for 2 years but were lost when an electrical fire caused the reptile building to burn down to the ground.
    The Scouts had skins and rattlers from their snakes. I think most used the skin for display, but I’ve had a vest made from rattle snake skins. When I was a high school student, I had a snakeskin vest but today that vest is worn and too small.
  1. In 1962 my ‘32 Ford roadster burned when one of the three duces flooded; the Offenhauser aluminum heads and intake manifold I thought my life was over but that was the best blessing I have ever had; I joined the Air Force. Following my 6 weeks of basic training I stayed at Lackland to attend 1 year of technical training in electronics. My one and only assignment was to Altus, Oklahoma, a SAC base with Atlas F missiles. My job was putting special equipment in the silos and in the communication center. I was discharged in May 1966 as a Vietnam era veteran and used the GI Bill to continue my education. Now as a veteran I have been honored to take the South Plains Honor Flight to DC to visit the military memorials. That was the trip of a lifetime. Upon returning I’ve continued to be involved with other veterans to support the Honor Flight. We meet on the first Monday of every month to plan the next trip and throughout the year to conduct fund-raising events allowing other veterans to take their Honor Flight. Supporting veterans is a high priority for me.

  2. I own a small amount of stock and have advisors who want to send me information or to visit with me about potential I don’t have time or interest for that. While they want to visit daily or several times a week, I told them once a month is enough for me. Money may be important but not nearly as important as my time. It commonly costs more to rebuild an old car than it would cost to buy one ready-built. Anybody with money can buy any car they want but those who do the rebuilding do so because that’s what they do. If it’s broken some want to fix it. That’s me.

  3. My brother said no one ever calls him to fix anything, If he needs woodwork he calls a carpenter. If it’s an electrical problem, he calls an electrician. If there is a plumbing problem, he calls a plumber. When my neighbor and friends have a problem, I often get a call. I’ve repaired cars, tractors, washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners, heaters, lights, and more.
  1. SEED, Sustainable Environmental and Economic Development, is a non-profit organization I established after my retirement with some close friends in Colorado. One of the goals of SEED is to help people take the waste or residues from one business and to recycle that material as seedstock for a downstream business. That process led SEED to explore biomass gasification. In 2006 I received a grant that allowed Erwin Young and me to travel over 10,500 miles to visit sites, engineers, and investors pursuing biomass gasification. We found some with apparent potential based on performance of their pilot plants, but they were constrained by legal and licensing restrictions. Yosemite Clean Energy appeared to have patented and licensed technology from Europe where several plants were operating commercial-scale gasifiers. We invited and brought Yosemite Clean Energy to the San Luis Valley. Forester and CEO Tom Hobby had strong ties with the U.S. Forest Service and was a featured speaker at a USFS conference held in Denver in November 2024. SEED provided $30,000 in-kind matching funds allowing Yosemite to receive a $300,000 grant from the Department of Agriculture. I’ve made several trips to the SLV and considerable research time assisting with this project. I’m 8 hours away from the SLV and cannot respond in the timely manner required as this project moves forward. Yosemite now has a competent team and a local partner that can respond in a timely manner. I am therefore withdrawing from hands-on contact with this project but will be available for consultation if needed. I wish great success to Yosemite and this project. My focus in the SLV is now for an educational center to be housed in the old train station in Monta Vista. There’s a great deal of work to be done to save and upgrade the train station to a renewable energy education center. There are only 24 hours in a day and at 83 I wish to use my time as productively as possible. When I was young I had a lot of time but no money; today I still have little money but my time is far more important than money. I will work and serve as long as God allows.

Nick Parker, Ph.D.
7805 Zoar Ave
Lubbock, TX 79424
Nickparkerllc@gmail.com
806 786 0925