Strong. Brave. Daring.

The following was a column that Parker wrote shortly after his father passed away. It ran in the Dec. 24 issue of the Bozeman Chronicle.

It had been years since I’d seen my dad naked.

But after mom died and Dad left Florida to move in with my daughter and her family in Livingston, he needed assistance bathing.

We’d bought him a shower chair, and I’d help him take off his clothes, step into the tub and sit down. He could still soap himself and then I would rinse him off, towel him dry and get him dressed.

He’d thank me in a shaky voice and tell me he wasn’t comfortable with anybody else giving...