W. L. Parker

Little is known about W.L. Parker outside of his work at the Executive Mansion. The earliest known reference to Parker working there comes from a newspaper article published in June 1902 while the White House was under renovation and President Theodore Roosevelt resided at another historic home on Lafayette Square (736 Jackson Place) as the temporary Executive Residence. The article noted that the president was greeted at the house by several ushers including W.L. Parker, Robert C. Mitchell, and Chief Usher Thomas E. Stone.¹ The article suggests that Parker worked at the White House prior to its renovation but this cannot be confirmed at this time. He did, however, continue working for Roosevelt after the White House renovation was completed in the fall of 1902. 

As an usher, Parker greeted guests at the president’s house, escorted them throughout the residence, and provided security. In 1908, Parker performed a unique job: body double for a presidential portrait. Isabella Hagner, social secretary for First Lady Edith Roosevelt, claimed in her unpublished memoir that the artist “Mr. Gari Melchers did a fine portrait of The President [Theodore Roosevelt], in riding clothes, with his sombrero and short riding coat. It was a very pleasing picture, I always thought, and had such a characteristic costume and pose. When the time came to do the clothes, Fitz Lee (one of the Aides) and Parker, an usher, helped out by sitting for Mr. Melchers. Someone heard Parker explaining, ‘Captain Lee’s the coat, but I”m the legs!’”² 

White House staff rosters indicate that Parker continued working at the White House as an usher as late as 1911 under President William Howard Taft.³ After this, however, Parker disappeared from the historical record.