Gordon Parry, Baron Parry

Who was Gordon Parry, Baron Parry?

Gordon Samuel David Parry was a Welsh Labour politician. He was created a Life Peer as Lord Parry of Neyland on 21 January 1976 by the Prime Minister Harold Wilson.

The son of Reverend Thomas Lewis Parry and his wife, Anne Parry, Lord Parry's early childhood days were mostly spent around his father's church, Molleston Baptist Church in Pembrokeshire. His university education was at Trinity College, Carmarthen.

Lord Parry was a schoolteacher prior to going into politics, standing as a Labour Party candidate in the Pembrokeshire constituency. but before then, as a young teen, he was a regular at Bethesda Baptist Chapel, Neyland, where his father was then pastor, and where today young Parry's name is preserved in the form of graffiti scratched into one of the pews.

Lord Parry was very active in travel and public works until the end of his life. His efforts reached around the world and today he is still fondly remembered in such far away locals as Macon, Georgia, USA, where he was highly important in the early years and ultimate success of the Macon International Cherry Blossom Festival.

Among numerous other accolades, Lord Parry was presented with The Welsh American Heritage Medallion by the National Welsh American Foundation during formal ceremonies in September 2001 at Philadelphia, USA.