Redman remembered as witty, easy-going
Baker College junior Parker Redman was found unconscious at about 7 a.m. Saturday following a quiet evening watching movies with friends. Doctors at Memorial Hermann Hospital pronounced him dead at 8:35 a.m. The cause of his death remains unknown, pending further testing, but Redman’s impact on fellow Bakerites is indisputable.
Campus observed a moment of silence for Redman at 12:30 p.m. Monday, and a memorial service and candlelight vigil began at 7 p.m. that night in the Baker Commons. About 300 students and family members attended the vigil, which ended with a round of Baker cheers led by Redman’s brother, Baker senior Phil Redman. After the vigil concluded, Phil led a group of Parker’s friends to the Will Rice College quad for a Roman candle vigil, commemorating Parker’s irreverent sense of humor.
Redman, a psychology and cognitive sciences major, is remembered for his smart and incisive wit, as well as his easygoing attitude and command of trivia.
Friends described the unique and close relationship between Redman and his older brother Phil. Parker’s roommate Rob Smith gave an example of the brothers’ shared sense of humor manifesting itself in a characteristically unique way.
“[Parker] and Phil got in a ‘cute war’ on Facebook, and this went on for about a month or two,” Smith, a Baker junior, said. “One of them would place as their Facebook photo a picture of some ridiculously cute animal, and the other would try to outdo him.”
Parker’s roommate Jason Goldman said he got to know Parker through Phil. Goldman, a Baker senior, met Parker at Owl Weekend 2004 and said Parker immediately bonded with Phil’s friends, cracking jokes verbally and visually — Parker showed up to Owl Weekend in a T-shirt that read, “Yes, I’m Phil’s brother.”
Redman, an employee of Rice’s Information Technology department, was an avid fan of computer technology. When he was not at work or at class, he could be found in his room at Baker with a notebook computer on his lap, Smith said.
Redman’s friend and former roommate Gabe Francis said Redman was better than anyone else on campus at using the Internet to obtain information, and that his reputation led many Bakerites to his doorstep.
“The guy would spend hours looking for this stuff,” Francis said. “It didn’t matter to him; if a friend asked, he would find it.”
Sociology Professor Bridget Gorman remembered Parker as an intellectually curious student who was not afraid to ask questions outside of class, and she said she will miss having both Redman brothers in class together.
“It’s the memory of having the two of them in there together sitting side by side,” Gorman said. “He’s definitely going to be someone who I’m really sorry I’m not going to get a chance to know better.”
While Parker was not always talkative in class, Gorman said he was a rewarding student because he engaged in the material.
This attitude carried over outside class, Francis said. Redman kept a close group of good friends and was not talkative around people he did not know well, but he was welcoming to anyone in need of a friend.
“He may have seemed kind of elitist, I can imagine, to some people, since he’s kind of smart and sharp-tongued,” Francis, a Baker senior, said. “[But] the guy would give you the shirt off his back.”
Francis recalled Redman’s fondness for criticizing politics, both on campus and off.
“He didn’t take political correctness very seriously,” Francis said. “He was a psychology major who was very interested in philosophy, so we would sit there and pick apart the American media; we’d pick apart the college system. Pick apart [President David] Leebron’s speeches. He liked to go through Leebron’s addresses line by line and try to pick apart what the administration was actually saying and trying to cover for.”
Francis recalled Orientation Week 2006, when Redman was working at IT over the summer and served as a surrogate adviser for incoming Baker students. Redman greeted all the new students on the first day of O-Week, and Francis said a few of them latched onto his carefree attitude and ability to defy social cliques.
“Parker kind of embodies what the college system should be,” Francis said.
Many Bakerites recalled Redman’s fondness for crossword puzzles. Baker Beer-Bike co-Coordinator Megan Hermance, a sophomore, said she remembers seeing a puzzle in his hands almost daily, and Francis recalled watching other Bakerites spontaneously join him to play the word games over breakfast.
“Parker wasn’t the most open guy, but Parker could sit down at any table and be welcome,” Francis said. “Everyone has something they can say about Parker, and something positive. Which you can’t say about a lot of people.”
A visitation in Redman’s hometown of Austin, Tex., will occur Wednesday at 10 a.m., and a memorial fund has been established at Baker College in Redman’s name. The family requests donations be made to the fund through Baker Masters Jose Aranda and Krista Comer in lieu of flowers. Redman is survived by his mother, Anne Dingus, his father, Patrick Redman, and his brother Phil. Additionally, he is remembered by his cousins, Baker senior Caroline Crites and sophomore Kate Hildebrandt.
