John Thomas Parran Jr., former Charles County representative to the Maryland House of Delegates, and then a state senator, died Monday. Here he is shown with Gary V, Hodge, right, with whom he had a 25-year friendship and partnership in public policy.        Photo courtesy of Hodge

Parran, a lifelong Charles Countian, may be most notable for his work in forming the Tri-County Council for Southern Maryland and changing the College of Southern Maryland from a local community college to a regional institution.

But during Parran’s 50 years in public service, he thanklessly provided countless hours of work that has shaped Southern Maryland life as we know it today.

They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words, but a 1,000 words could only provide a footnote to the influence of Parran, as anyone who knew him would agree.

The impact of Parran’s legacy on Southern Maryland was best described by Hodge during a 2004 tribute for Parran called “A Half-Century of Public Service, 1955-2004”

Below is the full text of this heartfelt address by Hodge.

“It’s an honor to be asked to say a few words in tribute to my friend John Thomas Parran.

We are all given a brief moment to make our mark upon the world.

The most fortunate among us are granted the wisdom to understand that during our brief time on this earth, what gives life meaning is service to others, and the greatest gift we can receive is the freedom and the opportunity to work to make our corner of the world a better place.

Measured by this standard, for 50 years John Parran has been the wisest and most fortunate of men, and through him and the leaders he has helped and inspired, he has made his corner of the world—Southern Maryland—a better place for our people, and for future generations. We can all hope to have the opportunity to use the gifts we are given to serve others. John’s life story proves that this is possible.

I think about what Southern Maryland looked like 24 years ago when I met John Parran for the first time. What I see today is the result of a generation of progress and change. Not merely material progress, although we see that in abundance. But also the growth and development of new institutions designed to serve the people—instruments of progress and of change—bringing new opportunities for our people to participate in the decisions that affect their lives, and prepare themselves for the future.

A few of the institutions John has helped build: the Tri-County Council for Southern Maryland, the College of Southern Maryland, and the Southern Maryland Higher Education Center.

This progress and these institutions could not have been built on a foundation of shifting sand. John Parran and the visionary leaders of his generation—J. Frank Raley, Bernie Fowler, John Hanson Briscoe, John Bloom, and others in this room—have been the bedrock for a generation of progress and prosperity, growth and change that have put Southern Maryland in the vanguard of our State’s leading regions.

John made it his personal mission to help and support others who are fired with a commitment to service, to making Southern Maryland a better place.

A happy warrior, always opti