He was a decorated World War I veteran, and had a business career that included service as chairman of the New Zealand Apple and Pear Marketing Board.

[3] On 21 June 1924, Parker married Elizabeth Mary Westropp Twemlow (1900–1969) at St Andrew's Church, Christchurch, with Read Masters performing the duties as best man.

[13] During his war service in the Middle East, he played for the New Zealand Machinegun Squadron team, which also included players such as Jock Richardson, and Cyril and Maurice Brownlie.

[1] Owing to work pressures and the malaria that he had contracted during the war, Parker did not appear for Canterbury again until the 1923 season, when he played in six matches.

"[14] Back in New Zealand in 1925, recurring bouts of malaria and ongoing work commitments curtailed Parker's playing career, and he retired after a few club matches that season.

[1] However, he continued in a coaching role and was credited at the end of the 1939 season for much of the improvement shown by the Victoria College Football Club in Wellington.

[15] Parker was a member of the executive committee of the New Zealand Rugby Union from 1939 to 1956, and was the All Blacks' manager on their controversial tour of South Africa in 1949.

Parker would have been aware that his former teammate, George Nēpia, had already experienced South Africa's racism and had drifted off to play rugby league.

[1] Parker had an orchard of 6 ha (15 acres), mainly of apples but with some peaches and nectarines, at Loburn in North Canterbury,[18][19] but left the area in 1929.