WIESBADEN, Germany -- Jeff Parmer, retired Army Lt. Col. and Department of the Army civilian at U.S. Army Europe headquarters, was remembered for his courage, commitment and friendship at a Hainerberg Chapel memorial service July 24.
"This service today is not restricted to grief, however, quite the contrary," explained Col. Scoot Hooper, chief of USAREUR's training and exercise directorate, who also worked as one of Parmer's military supervisors. "Today offers an opportunity to celebrate together the life of an amazing human being."
Parmer was born in Seoul, South Korea in October of 1955 and was later adopted by the Parmer family in North Dakota. Twenty-one years later, he graduated from Minnesota State University at Moorhead with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, where he was commissioned a 2nd Lt. through the Reserve Officer Training Corps and began serving in the Army Reserve.
Fast-forwarding to 1999, Parmer was placed on active duty status and stationed for three years in Zagreb, Croatia. Not only did he serve as the Bilateral Affairs Officer, he also met his wife, Elizabeta.
In 2003 Parmer again returned to Active Duty with USAREUR as a planner and operations officer for multiple military operations throughout the European Theater, including operations in Bosnia and Kosovo as well as managing European-based support to the Global War on Terror.
Parmer retired from the US Army Reserves in 2007 after 28 years of service but continued his service as a DA civilian.
Following his retirement he became a Department of the Army civilian, serving as an exercise planning specialist with Army Europe's planning and exercise directorate. He filled the role of the planning and execution of Army Europe's participation in NATO exercises.
The most noted exercise Parmer planned was Exercise Trident Junction, which brought together more than 36,000 soldiers together from approximately 30 countries.
"He didn't make headlines," said Col. James McDonough, one of Parmer's friends invited to speak at the service. "He didn't appear on television. But Jeff quietly, competently and professionally made his mark on the superiority, and therefore the prosperity of Europe, the United States and the world."
He married his wife Elizabeta on Aug. 19, 2002 and they had a daughter, Lucia in 2012. Parmer is survived by his mother Ruth and three daughters, Olivia Dicks, Meredith Parmer, and Lucia, who was born in 2012.
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