Reverend Parker Benson's Story

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After serving in the United States Navy, Parker received his B.S. in Education from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (’83), and his M.Ed from West Georgia College in Carrollton (’88).
Parker taught school and coached football and wrestling for 16 years in Dalton, Georgia, before entering the ministry in 1996. Parker attended The Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, where he received his Masters of Divinity in 1999.
Rev. Benson has pastored 5 churches: Union Point United Methodist Church, Tate UMC, Bethlehem First UMC – all in Georgia, and then Maryville First UMC and Walland UMC in Tennessee. Rev. Benson became the Pastor of Smoky Mountain Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee on May 16, 2021. He and his wife Carol, a retired school teacher, were married in 1984 and have 4 children and 6 grandchildren. They live happily in Happy Valley in Tallassee, TN, where they work a small farm complete with cows, calves, chickens, a donkey, two dogs, and two cats.

Carol was born in Rochester, NY and moved to Kingsport, TN when she was in high school. Carol obtained her B.S. in Elementary Education (’80) and her M.Ed in Deaf Education (’83) from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Carol taught school in Johnson City for one year before marrying Parker and moving to Dalton, Ga where she taught for 15 years. She was then hired as the teacher for the Hearing Impaired in Pickens County, Ga. Carol earned a degree in Visually Impaired from Mercer University in Macon, and began working for North Georgia RESA as a teacher for the Hearing/Visually Impaired. Upon retirement Carol and Parker moved to Happy Valley, Tn.