Lieutenant Colonel Barry Parsons was born in Darby, Pennsylvania to Andrew and Louise Parsons. Barry graduated from Lansdowne Aldan High School in 1964 and was employed by the Penn Mutual Insurance. He graduated from Miami-Dade Junior College in business administration and was later drafted into the US Army. Barry went to Fort Bragg, North Carolina for basic training, then on to Fort Polk, Louisiana for AIT. He was sent to Vietnam where he was assigned to Americal Division then to Alpha Company. He left Vietnam in November of 1969 as an NCO and served at Fort Ord, California. He completed his degree at Temple University in 1973 and joined the Pennsylvania National Guard. In 1976, Barry was sent to Fort Benning Officer school, became 2^nd Lieutenant and then transferred to the Delaware National Guard retiring in 2003. Barry and Carol married in 1972 and have two daughters and two granddaughters.