Born in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1921, Henry Lee Parker received his Bachelor of Arts from Gordon College in 1949 and attended Harvard from 1952 to 1955. He was ordained a deacon in 1955, and a priest in 1957.

From 1955 to 1956, while fulfilling his first assignment as Minister-in-Charge at St. Paul’s Church in Orangeburg, South Carolina, Parker served on the Board of Directors of the NAACP chapter in Orangeburg. For his next appointment, he returned north to Detroit, Michigan, where he served as curate at St. Cyprian Church from 1956 to 1957 and as vicar at the Church of the Resurrection in Ecorse, Michigan from 1957 until 1964. In 1959, he served as president of the Ecorse/Rouge Michigan Chapter of the NAACP. Before turning to social welfare full-time, Parker served as vicar at St. Phillip’s in Little Rock, Arkansas for two years (1964-1966).

In 1967, Parker worked as a director for Volunteer Services at the Opportunity Industrialization Center. He then served as Director of Interpretation for the Delta Ministry and editor of the organization’s monthly newsletter, “Delta Ministry Reports,” from 1968 to 1971 in Greenville, Mississippi. During this time, he and Delta Ministry provided relief services, community development, and racial reconciliation to the communities of Mississippi. While in Greenville in 1971, he also worked as director of Brethren Services.

After Mississippi, Parker became a chaplain at Berea College in Kentucky, which was founded as the first interracial and co-educational college in the South. He held this position from 1971 until his death in 1982. During this time he promoted equality as president of the Berea Ministerial Association. Parker authored sections of the publication The Church and Violence in Rural Areas, and was a member of the National Association of College and University Chaplains.