I met Judge Parker in 2008. He was a court appointed receiver on a property I had listed and I met him at the property to discuss our plan to get it sold. He pulled up in a red convertible Mercedes and got out wearing a cowboy hat. I knew we were going to get along just fine after that meeting. Through the years, we worked together to sell other properties and would call on each other for legal or real estate advice. Judge Parker was always kind, always approachable and he and Vicki became good friends to my family and me. We loved to get together to sing the old country classics and Vicki would look at him as if he were playing at the Grand Old Opry. She was his biggest fan! Judge Parker loved to laugh, he could make a mean Bloody Mary, and he had some great quotes I will never forget. He could remember details from trials he was involved with 30 years ago...names, dates, everything. His stories were always fascinating and I loved hearing them. I am thankful for the blessing of Quay's friendship. He was a wonderful man and I will never forget him.

Go rest high on that mountain, Judge Parker! Until we meet again!

I got to know Uncle Quay last year when he was in town to officiate my sister Amber's wedding. When we first met, I felt like I already knew him. I had heard so many good things about him -- his friendly manner, his funny stories with quirky Texas anachronisms, and best of all, the happiness he brought to my Aunt Vicki's life. He treated her so well, and I was proud to welcome him to the family and call him Uncle.

Uncle Quay showed remarkable generosity of spirit towards everyone, especially his family. Even though he had just been diagnosed with Leukemia the week before Amber's wedding, he put his troubles aside, and made the trek out to California to be the officiant, all the while as cheerful and good natured as ever. And what a trek it was!

There was a snafu with the paperwork, some sort of a clerical error, and it needed to be remedied before the wedding in order for him to be a temporary judge in the state of California. He could have officiated the ceremony as a justice of the peace, like the rest of us commoners, but of course Quay insisted he do it under his formal capacity as a judge. He worked hard for that title, after all! He had to zig-zag across town, driving around for hours and waiting in lines for hours more, just to file the paperwork again, but he did it all with a smile and love in his heart. Because that's what families do for one another.

I know he treated the extended family of his hometown Texas community with the same respect and honor as he treated ours. Uncle Quay was a people person, and everybody knew him. He was the star of any room he walked into, and he lit up the room when he spoke. Quay was also what you would call "a character". A truly unique person, the sort whose stories will be told and retold for generations to come.

The time I got to spend with Uncle Quay was all too short, but they were moments I will always cherish and never forget. He made me laugh, of course, but there was a depth to his words as well. I felt like I was speaking with an old soul, someone with wisdom to impart. I am so thankful to have known Uncle Quay, and my heart goes out Aunt Vicki, and all his loved ones. He was a fighter to the very end, and showed us all what it means to have inner strength. We will miss you Quay. The world just isn't the same without you.