http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/18/AR2006011800103_pf.html
John Parran Jr., Lawmaker, Dies
Trailblazing Democrat Remembered As a Devoted Mentor and Leader

By Joshua Partlow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 19, 2006; SM01

John Thomas Parran Jr., a pioneering Democratic state legislator and longtime contributor to Southern Maryland civic affairs, died Monday morning after a heart attack at Civista Medical Center in La Plata. He was 79.

Parran, who lived in Indian Head, devoted more than a half-century to public service. A former Charles County state senator and delegate beginning in 1955, he helped found the Tri-County Council for Southern Maryland in 1964. He was known as a fierce opponent of slot machine gambling when the Charles County economy relied heavily on the industry and was an advocate of civil rights for minorities and women when these causes were less than popular, friends and colleagues said.

"He was never a typical politician. He really was interested more in issues than getting into fights and whatnot. He just was tremendously civic-minded," said J. Frank Raley, who served with Parran in the General Assembly. "I had a great friendship and admiration for him. I think he was one of the most important men from Southern Maryland."

In recent years, Parran had suffered from Parkinson's disease. In a 2004 interview with The Washington Post, Parran said his condition made it increasingly difficult to speak and control his body. That year, he stepped down from the Tri-County Council's executive board and as a member of the Potomac River Fisheries Commission.

"It's not that I don't want to be there, because I do. It's just a matter of this disease is a progressive-type thing, and you don't anticipate there's going to be any real cure for it," he said at the time.

His longtime friend John Bloom said that Parran felt discomfort in his chest about 1 a.m. Monday. Parran was taken to Civista Medical Center, where it was determined he had fluid in his lungs, Bloom said. About 6 a.m., Parran died of a heart attack, his friend said.

Parran was born in Baltimore, attended Charles County public schools and went to the private Charlotte Hall Academy and The Citadel military college in South Carolina. He served in the U.S. Army from 1944 to 1946 before returning to his home state and graduating from the University of Maryland in 1950. He also was a left-handed pitcher for the Indian Head Indians, a recreational league team.

His business life was spent as an insurance and real estate broker, but his government colleagues said public service was his true calling. He served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1955 to 1958 and in the state Senate from 1959 to 1966.

While in state government, he was a fiercely committed Democrat who worked to end Charles County's dependence on slot machine revenue. When the gaming devices were legalized in 1949, hordes of tourists flocked to the neon lights of Waldorf along the Route 301 commercial strip, which soon earned the nickname "Little Nevada." By 1968, slots were outlawed.

"We really felt this -- that the slot machines were obviously eating at our economy. It really stopped development from taking place, and when we freed ourselves from the gambling controls, things did do better," Raley said.

State Sen. Roy P. Dyson (D-St. Mary's) recalled Parran's commitment to the success of the Navy bases in Charles and St. Mary's counties. Parran saw high-tech military development as one promising economic avenue for Southern Maryland, Dyson said, adding that "you couldn't have it in a mini-Las Vegas."

When Dyson was in the U.S. House in the early 1980s, rumors were rampant about the possibility that the Defense Department would close what is now the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Indian Head, he said. Navy officers were prohibited from lobbying public officials on behalf of their bases, Dyson said. Parran invited Dyson to his office "just to have coffee and doughnuts" -- with some officers from the base.

"We really planned a real strategy for saving Indian Head, just having coffee and doughnuts," Dyson said.

State Sen. Thomas M. Middleton (D-Charles) said he took from Parran the lesson that Southern Maryland's delegation needed to speak with one voice in the legislature to increase its strength. The membership of the Tri-County Council, which Parran launched with Raley, includes the state legislators and county commissioners from Calvert, Charles and St. Mary's.

Middleton also received a senatorial scholarship from Parran, which he used to attend Mount St. Mary's College.

"John Thomas Parran was a mentor to me and to many others," Middleton said. "He's going to be sorely missed."

Among other aspects of his public service, Parran's colleagues mentioned his long tenure with the Potomac River Fisheries Commission and his work to negotiate a resolution in the conflicts between Maryland and Virginia watermen on the Potomac. He served on the board of Charles County Community College, later named the College of Southern Maryland.

"Southern Maryland has lost one of its most outstanding leaders, who at a time of great transition brought vision, judgment, common sense, and great integrity to ensuring that our community would have a bright future," Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said in a statement. "His help, advice and counsel over the years, particularly when I began to represent Southern Maryland in the U.S. Congress in 1992, was very important and helped me better represent our community."

Parran was unmarried and had no immediate survivors.

Visitation will be at 2 p.m. tomorrow at the Indian Head Pavilion.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company