Parris's estate to enrich Western North Carolina

By Rose Hooper

The Sylva author left more than $450,000 to benevolent and educational organizations, according to Doug Reed, Parris's longtime friend and executor of his estate, which was recently settled.

"John also left a wealth of other materials - books, manuscripts, papers, photographs and artifacts," Reed said of the well-known Western North Carolina newspaperman who died in 1999.

During World War II readers around the world recognized the byline of this war correspondent who wrote for the United Press and the Associated Press. But back home in Sylva he was simply Johnny Parris, son of John Alvis and Myrtle Evelyn Tallent Parris. As a premature baby Parris was so small his parents put him in a shoe box. Since there were no incubators in Sylva then, they wrapped the baby in cotton wool, placed him in the cardboard box and held him before the fireplace.

Parris's attachment to his birth place remained strong. In his estate, he left his house and land on Keener Street to Sylva's First United Methodist Church. He left his house in Dillsboro's Laurel Cove to Western Carolina University for use as a residence by historians and writers. That clause also included Reed, designated as Parris's biographer. The university renounced acceptance of the property, preferring that it be sold with proceeds accruing to the estate, benefitting the university and other beneficiaries.

As a result, the total in money provided to Western Carolina University by Parris's estate was $257, 070.

"That's exclusive of the books, tapes, papers and artifacts also conveyed to the university," Reed said. "To the best of my knowledge, no appraised value of their worth has been made."

A large part of Parris's book collection was sold by WCU's Hunter Library, while others were retained by the library, including some of the author's own books. Manuscripts and material given to WCU's Mountain Heritage Center and Hunter Library's Special Collections include correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, writing tablets, audio tapes and recordings.

"Of particular note are three letters written during the Civil War from Major Wiley Parris to his wife, Jane, and dated Feb. 6, April 13 and July 3, 1862," Reed said.

"John was quite a pack rat... especially as far as newspapers were concerned," said Reed, noting the collections includes a rare copy of the Webster Herald dated Dec. 28, 1899, and a Sept. 15, 1931, issue of The Ruralite.

Also included in the WCU collection is a letter from John Ross, principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, to brothers of the Choctaw Nation written Nov. 18, 1842. Artifacts donated to the Mountain Heritage Center contain many Cherokee wood carvings, pottery, baskets and instruments.

"John was the first director of public relations for the Cherokee Historical Association," Reed said. "Many of his favorite themes for his newspaper columns were about the Cherokee Indians."

Parris also bequeathed $75,000 to the University of Kansas Endowment Association, in the name of his late wife, the former Dorothy Luxton, a graduate of that university. He also gave a gift of $100,000 to his church, First United Methodist Church of Sylva.

In other provisions, Parris directed that his possessions be sold, at Reed's discretion, with proceeds to be placed in the estate to help meet the monetary bequests. Possessions not otherwise transferred to WCU were sold at public auction in June 2000.

Born on Nov. 23, 1914, Parris began writing at an early age for The Sylva Herald and Ruralite. He was a correspondent for daily newspapers in Asheville, Charlotte, Raleigh and other cities and for both the United Press and Associated Press wire services.

He joined the Raleigh Bureau of United Press in 1934, later moving to New York City. He wrote for the Winston-Salem Journal-Sentinel, was a night bureau manager for UP in Memphis, Tenn., and returned to the New York UP bureau before World War II.

Assigned overseas by United Press, he was one of the UP war correspondents assigned to cover the invasion of North Africa by American forces. In London, he continued to work for the United Press, later joining the Associated Press. He continued with the AP in London and New York until he resigned in 1947 to return to Sylva following the death of his father.

He again became a correspondent for several large newspapers. From the time he began writing a regular column, "Roaming The Mountains," for the Asheville newspapers in the 1950s, his fame as the chronicler of Western North Carolina peoples, folkways, legends and lore grew steadily. It was undiminished until his death in 1999, more then 70 years after he had written his first newspaper story.

"John and Dorothy, large in life and each highly successful in their respective fields, as a result of these bequests, will continue to enrich the region they loved so well, he as a native son and she as an adopted daughter," said Reed, who is writing a biography, "The John Parris Story."

Anyone with information, photographs or accounts related to both John and Dorothy Parris can mail them to Doug Reed, 931 University Heights Road, Cullowhee, N.C. 28723.

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