Chick Parsons
American businessman and diplomat
Charles Thomas "Chick" Parsons Jr. (April 22, 1902 – May 12, 1988) was an American businessman, diplomat, and decorated World War II veteran.
Pre-war years
Parsons was born in Shelbyville, Tennessee, moved frequently, and spent part of his youth (beginning at the age of 5) in Manila, before returning to Tennessee. Charles Parsons' interest in the Philippines occurred because two of his uncles had gone there to seek their fortune. Their letters home ignited his imagination and sense of adventure. As a result, he took courses in shorthand and Spanish while in school in Chattanooga. He graduated from Chattanooga High School. After graduating from school, he held a job as a court reporter for a year or two. Then in 1921, at the age of 19, he arrived in Manila after working across the Pacific as a crewman on a freighter. His knowledge of shorthand and Spanish allowed him to qualify as secretary to U.S. Governor-General Leonard Wood.
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This entry incorporates text from “Chick Parsons” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.