The Paths of Destiny
Appendix 1

A Brief Sketch

Statistics of Robert Bixby Parker dated 12 June 1999

Name: Robert Bixby Parker

Sex: Male

Age: 32

Date of Birth: 13 March 1967

Nationality: American

Ethnicity: Anglo-Indian

Marital Status: Single

Height: 5” 7’

Weight: 140 lbs.

Build: Slim

Hair Color: Black

Eye Color: Brown

Blood type: A+

Nickname: Spenser

Education: Master’s Degree in History, emphasis on Medieval and Early Renaissance Europe, with a Minor in Business Administration, University of Miami (Florida), 1987

Occupation: Civilian Criminal Investigator (Miami-Dade County Police Department Jan 7, 1997 to present)

Military: Chief Petty Officer, Electrician’s Mate, United States Navy (Jan 1986 – March 1986)

Lieutenant, Junior Grade, United States Navy (March 1986 – Jan 1987)

Lieutenant, United States Navy (Jan 1987 – Jan 1989)

Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy SEAL (Retired) (Jan 15, 1989 - June 6, 1995)

Commander, United Nations Organization Peacekeeping Forces, Naval Division (Retired) (June 6, 1995 - December 18, 1996)

Awards, Commendations, etc.: Purple Heart (1988, 1991, and 1995)

Navy Cross (1992)

Congressional Medal of Honor (1996)

Several commendations awarded in service to the Miami-Dade Police Department

Hobbies: Medieval History, Supernatural/Occult investigations, Ancient Egyptian and Ancient Greco-Roman Mythology

Other: Has written several books in the genres of Mystery and Supernatural/Occult. He published his first book while still a lieutenant in the U S Navy, while stationed in the Philippines in 1988.

Is published under the pseudonym “William Anthony Nall” because of similarity of name to a well-known mystery writer.

Robert Bixby Parker was born March 13, 1967 in Miami, Dade Co, Florida. He is the second son and eldest surviving child of Randall James Parker (b August 7, 1935 in Miami, Dade Co, FL) and Janet Bixby Hampton (b Sept 21, 1942), daughter of Martin Bixby Hampton (b July 3, 1921 d May 30, 1980) and Vanessa Clayton De Vere (b 1921 d May 9, 1954). Martin Bixby Hampton, grandfather of Robert Bixby Parker, is the son of William Brooks Hampton (b 5 Aug 1893 d May 1959) and Jasmine Georgena Bixby (b 20 Mar 1895 d 23 Jul 1986), youngest of three daughters of Sir Roger Bixby, Earl of Maidstone and Flamstead (b 12 April, 1845 in London, Sussex Co, England d 18 Mar 1920) and Lady Jasmine, of Hyderabad, India (b 23 Feb 1854 d 9 Sep 1931). See the separate biography of Sir Roger Bixby for further details of Jasmine Georgena Bixby and her siblings.

Parker grew up hearing tales of how his great-great-grandfather, Sir Roger, had saved the life of Queen Victoria and, because of his actions, his subsequent knighting. He also heard of many, if not all, of the tales of Sir Roger and Lady Jasmine’s adventures together. Stories told to him by his great-grandmother, Jasmine Georgena Bixby, who took part in some of these adventures.

Parker also heard tales of how his great-grandmother first met her husband on one of these adventures; how she married him against her parents’ wishes and their subsequent emigration to the United States.

As a memento of those tales, Robert has the claw of the “White Tiger” adventure that Sir Roger made into a necklace and gave to Lady Jasmine. Apparently, Lady Jasmine was quite fond of her youngest daughter and gave the necklace, her first and most treasured gift from Sir Roger, to her as a wedding gift.

Though always fascinated by the tales told to him by his great-grandmother, Parker never truly believed that such things could exist out there. Yet, despite his skepticism, he became an amateur expert in the supernatural and unexplained.

At least on paper.

Two days after graduating high school in May of 1985, Parker enlisted with the United States Navy, much to the chagrin of his mother but wholeheartedly supported by his father. Parker’s father, Randall James Parker, served in Korea with the US Navy and in Vietnam and Libya with the US Coast Guard.

Parker completed his basic and “A” school training as an electrician’s mate in Orlando, Florida. Upon his graduating “A” school, he achieved the rank of Petty Officer Third Class, second out of forty in his class. He immediately began training in the Naval Nuclear Power school, in Orlando, in hopes of gaining a billet on one of the nuclear submarines. An unprecedented short time later, Parker, within his second month of Power School, was promoted to Chief Petty Officer in January 1986.

Parker’s rapid rise in ranks was quickly noticed by his superiors. Nor had they missed his talent for tactics and strategy. In March of that year, he was given the opportunity to earn a commission as Lieutenant, Junior Grade, and to take accelerated correspondence courses at the University of Miami, provided he went into SEAL training. It didn’t take long for him to choose the promotion. March 13, 1987, Parker’s twentieth birthday, became a milestone in the military history of the Parker family. Not only was he a fifth consecutive generation US Navy sailor, he became the first to become a Naval officer.

By January of 1987, he earned his Master’s in Medieval and Early Renaissance History, graduating with honors, and became a full Lieutenant.

Later In 1987, Parker got his first taste of the supernatural while stationed at the Sangley Point US Naval Base in the Philippines. He was on leave at the time and, instead of flying back home to Florida, the young naval lieutenant opted to see the sights of the country he’d be calling home for the next few years.

Early one morning in June of that year, Parker was walking along the beach of Cavite Bay. It was quite foggy in the early dawn and one could barely see five feet away. Parker thought he heard a plea for help. Following the sound of the cry, Parker found a wounded man wearing a 1940s era US Marine combat uniform. The man reached his hand up to Parker, pleaded for water, and requested that Parker ease his pain. Parker immediately rushed to drag the wounded Marine away from the water. He quickly made a makeshift bed for the man, all the while soothing him with soft kind words. When he finished making the bed, Parker turned to the Marine to help him onto it. To his shock, the wounded man fade from view — holding out a letter he wanted Parker to take to his family. Had it not been for the blood that was on his own clothing, Parker would have thought it was a dream.

When he mentioned the encounter to several of his shipmates, they just scoffed at him and said he must have been hung over or something, even though he had the bloodstained clothes to show as proof. Years later, in 1995 when Parker had joined the UNO Peacekeeping force, he sent in a sample to a friend in Langley, Virginia to analyze the blood for DNA testing. To Parker’s surprise, the DNA report came back inconclusive, stating there were no matching DNA markers of any known person, living or dead. When asked where he got the blood sample, Parker stated he couldn’t remember.