The Slow Death of William Eston Garretson Jr.

Brethren, lift up your tv dinners and cold cans of Bud and let's toast tonight...

Sometimes I feel like William Eston Garretson Jr. is Charles Watson's ninth victim. Possibly his tenth depending on how you feel about poor Mr. Stubbs. Blog veteran Panamint Patty touches on Watson and Stubbs briefly here in this lovely interview from last spring. I will revisit the interview in an upcoming post, but right now let's talk about the caretaker. 

Other times, I think Tex was just another nail in Billy's coffin. Billy died in 2016. He was likely a longtime sufferer of PTSD that he disastrously self-treated. Tobacco use contributed to his death at age sixty-six. Billy drove a grocery store delivery truck for many years.  

 

He lived in a town where things change slowly and everyone knows everybody's business. This was his final address. 

"My husband, I really don't think anybody in the area here, never gave him a chance of day," Linda Derr, Garretson's ex-wife said. The pair were married for five years and had a son together, she said, adding that their son was born with a severe heart defect and died after his third open heart surgery. 

Derr described her ex-husband, who died in 2016, as a very good man, loving man, and cited those qualities as the reason she married him. 

              - Lancaster Eagle Gazette 20 Nov 2017

Shoutout to Linda up in Heaven for her kindness. She was Billy's second wife. I tried to locate Linda when I was gathering information for this post but I was too late. First, I found her phone number from 2002 on Ancestry. Then, I discovered her Facebook page but noticed she hadn't posted since 2019. After that, Google took me to her obituary. 

Linda Lou Derr died at the end of July 2020. No cause of death is listed but she suffered from genetic heart issues. She was a retired drug store cashier. Her employer, Gray Drug, was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1912. Sherwin-Williams bought them out in 1982. I didn't know other drugstores existed for the first twelve years of my life. 

Linda and Billy were on the same high school yearbook page together. That got me. 

     Billy grew up without a father in this tidy little home. 

Sometime after completing high school, Billy made the mistake of a lifetime when he hitchhiked from Ohio to Los Angeles. Scrolling through the labels along the right side of the blog reveals that this is the thirteenth time blog writers have mentioned Billy (and remembered to make a label). I thought I'd try to add some paint to the outline already laid down herein and elsewhere. Thank you for reading the results of my research today. 

Billy possibly had one lucky day in his entire life and you know when I mean. Maybe two counting when the police let him go. 

Arguably, the aftershocks of August 8, 1969, killed him long before he died. You know already that no one escapes this darkness unscathed. Billy's story should reinforce that belief if you already have it. Or maybe create it if you do not. 

Before we get motoring, I want to assert that one indisputable truth in this whole big Charles Manson milieu is that the road is littered with children no one gave a shit about and often hurt. You can drop a pedantic bootstraps lecture below if you wish but you won't change my mind. 

If you haven't read the Bill (and one post labeled William) Garretson posts on the right, you should. Actually, if you need backstory, start by reading the parts of Helter Skelter that are relevant to Garretson. Like if you have a rainy day or something else keeping you inside. For example, if half of your town has covid and the citizens all want to kill each other because of what they post on Facebook. 

After that, read the Garretson articles on the right over there ------------------------->

For 21st century Billy info, read or refresh yourself on this awesome post by Max Frost. In 2018, I was blown away by Max's post and the song remains the same for me now. It's one of my favorite pieces in the library here. While Billy's house from Frost's account is gone, bits of foundation remain a hundred yards from this barn. Frost's friend possibly heard a story none of us ever heard before beside a bonfire on this property while they shared that case of beer. Neighbors are sparse. 

If you're wondering, I solve the mystery behind August 8th today, so make sure you read through until the end! Just kidding. I never will. But there are lots of people hanging around with the answers. Just ask one. Maybe use your VPN and don't slip up and give away any unnecessary info. Monsters and lunatics are woven in amongst the helpful. 

Billy is thirteen when his dad is indicted in Ohio Amish country for common deadbeatery. Btw, Washington Courthouse is pronounced, you guessed it, Warshington Courthouse. 

Billy wrestled in high school. The above photo is from his sophomore year in 1965. You might think Billy was from the sticks and in a way you're right but his hometown of Lancaster, Ohio, is also basically becoming a distant burb of the state capital these days.

Now, if you want to talk about the sticks, I'm from a place near the river that makes Lancaster look like a full-blown metropolis. If you can believe it, six people lived in my town when I was born. Two were my parents (rimshot). 

Btw, if you ever visit Lancaster, be sure to pronounce the city's name, "Lank-uh-stir." Lancaster is famous for General William Tecumseh Sherman. You can visit Sherman's home online here. The vlog host is from Indiana and mispronounces Lancaster. 

Kids from Lancaster are tough. Sherman was tough. Tecumseh was tough but had an insane brother. And also was not from Lancaster. 

11th Grade. You can almost feel the darkness swirling around the edges. Single mother. Early 60's. Conservative town. Smaller dude. 

Senior Photo. Billy studies business and is on the wrestling team but absent from the team photo. 

Like Max Frost said, Billy's number was in the phone book forever. I know the story as it's told has Billy thumbing a ride to California sometime in 1968, but we are unable to produce an Ohio address for him between late spring of 1967 and early 1970. Yes, he could've lived at his mom's for awhile. Every young person loves living at home after they become adults.  

But if he didn't, where was he? Did Billy split for the West Coast so he could be gay without his mom running the vacuum in the living room while he got his groove on behind his locked bedroom door? And if so, why would he go to Los Angeles and not San Francisco? And why would he marry three women throughout the course of his life and have children with two if he was gay? 

Three wives is deeper than any closet I've ever heard of in the secular world. But spend a couple of minutes in Lancaster and you'll be like oh yeah okay I totally see it now. So who knows? 

Was Billy possibly a naive rumpkin who thought he could go to Hollywood and become the next Steve McQueen? That'd be my bet. Or maybe Lee Marvin. Marvin was bigger in '67. A real tough guy. Billy and so many other youths were drawn west like moths to the flame and it never stops. Has never stopped. 

How many Billy's are running around LA right now believing they're getting their big break except in reality they're being used and abused? A couple thousand? 

You think any young rubes who fell in way over their heads are heading home for good at the end of this month? At the end of every month? Billy was about to turn twenty and return to the heartland when August 8th happened. He said so in his testimony anyway.

Let's back up a bit. We're getting ahead of ourselves. 

Billy Garreston, fresh from his senior year in Ohio, arrives in the City of Angels on the back of a turnip truck and drifts through a year or two of living on his journey to Rudi Altobelli. 

Or, nineteen year old Billy decides to hitch to California to see the country he thinks he'll be drafted to defend before it's too late. Both work for me but I lean early. Billy says in his testimony that he had a few friends over to swim in Rudi's pool. How long does it take to make friends you trust enough to have over for pool parties where you live AND work? 

Seriously. How much time passes before a yokel like Billy can cozy up to a mobbed-up guy like Rudi and have the skill set to make it stick? And then move into Cielo Drive (albeit the not air-conditioned guest house) with the property owner who also btw runs around town with Hollywood stars? Have you ever heard of a caretaker sharing the use of a private pool with his rich neighbors, aka the paying tenants, who live across the walk and can see him swimming? 

Did Ms. Chapman and the gardener brothers also take dips? 

Quick story. I have a friend who is a flower wholesaler. They service big personal accounts too. The richest couple in his wealthy state receive weekly deliveries. The orders are so large that my friend's company delivers in a big diesel reefer truck that typically backs onto loading docks. 

One morning, my friend's driver takes a leak in a staff bathroom attached to the massive kitchen at the front mansion when no one is around to ask. Mind you, these people are rich for real, not your local busiest orthodontist who married a surgeon or whatever, or a ballplayer or singer. These folks have a few homes on the property but this is the main one we're talking about. The guards see the driver on the camera walking out of the toilet. A little while later, the woman of the house calls my friend on his personal phone and demands he fire the driver or they're done doing business together. 

Because of two minutes in a staff lavatory. Maybe he peed on the floor, who knows. 

I'm pretty sure no one who just read that is sitting there saying, "Wow, that's super mean and odd because none of the rich people I know are like that..." If someone told me that story, for example, I would probably shrug and say what do you expect? He should've known. 

Rich people don't want contact with the hoi polloi. That's not new news. You might even have a story just like it to share with me in the comments. Or maybe not. Donna Jean never gets no love. 

I'm probably just trying to say that Billy was most likely more ingratiated that many people believe. Or maybe employers take nighttime poolside photos of their employees and I've just had shitty jobs. Which is probably true anyway but whatever. 

Even if you stand firm in other beliefs, it's interesting that we might have a block of missing time in Billy's California life as told in the narrative. It's not a stretch to wonder if things he experienced during that period might help us better understand the goings on at Cielo prior to the murders. In a moment, we'll discuss a second and just as interesting block of missing time at the end of Billy's stay in California and its possible effects on his eventual testimony. 

But first, where was Billy before the dog watching gig that came with free rides from Folger family members? 

Did he start out at a primo cruisin' spot after making the decision he could do that type of work and thus accelerated his journey to the Cielo guesthouse? Billy could've been a waiter or a bartender or a whatever if he had a problem with being a male prostitute. Other choices existed. Maybe he tried women's wigs first and failed. 

And didn't he have any fear of the bad things that happen in the skin trade? Getting into cars is totally scary. What if they drive you away to your doom? Who's behind the wheel? Bill Nelson in a Bruce Davis mask?

I would've starved to death. I'm scared of everything. Killers, germs, conversations. The list is endless. Plus, I hate to say it but I think my early Wesleyan training got to me. My internal dialogue is all over-caution and hey don't do that, dude. 

Actually, I'm attempting to appear interesting. I mostly only internally discuss food wants and upcoming meals with myself. Why I shouldn't eat this or that, what about on Saturday though, basic stuff. 

Let's move on to August 9th. If you read through Billy's testimony you will see the police arrested him prior to lunchtime and released him in the afternoon the following Monday (August 11th). When detectives interviewed him Sunday, the 10th, Billy said the dogs were barking two to three hours after Steve Parent left the cottage. 

Maybe it took awhile to receive permission to leave town but Billy remained in California for a full week after the police release him before returning home to Ohio. Billy tells Bugliosi in court that he moved out of Cielo Dr. on August 9th. Where was Billy for those seven days after being released from jail? He had little or no money and was freshly unemployed. 

The following July, when Billy arrives back in LA to testify, he says on the witness stand that the dogs never barked the night of August 8th, 1969. But then also even if they did, the dogs always barked at nothing so lol whatever man dogs are stupid amirite. 

Hearing that, lead defense attorney Paul (PJ) Fitzgerald shoots out of his chair like an ignited NASA rocket, calls time, and screams, "Heyo, most honorable dude, hold up a quick sec. Billy is busted for lying right here and right now. He's impeached. Here's the proof."

The proof is shown but the bench is still all, "Haha no way fuck you, Fitzgerald. We are here for blood." The attempt fails. 

Aaron Stovitz wins the one-liner of the day award. And check out Billy's answer to the last question. 

Brisk and typical, old boy. Cheerio!

With no psychological aftercare or anything else, Billy enjoyed a free redeye back Ohio that evening where the wife he married three weeks earlier waited. They shared an apartment an hour from the airport in Columbus. 

Lovely digs. Just like Cielo. Lots of Beverly Hillbillies actresses and heiresses using the pool with the help. Okay, you got me. There's no pool. Or actresses and heiresses. 

Billy and Wife #1 have a child while living at this address. Their marriage lasts a year and three days. His wife is granted the divorce on the grounds of gross neglect and extreme cruelty. 

I tried to find her but was unsuccessful. There's also a chance she's passed. Please don't stay forever angry, Mrs. Billy #1. He went through some shit he could never tell anyone about out there in sunny California. 

Billy, how'd you meet that mobster? How did you become his rent boy? I bet he loved how young you looked and your wrestler body. 

Billy is dead but also alive on Max Frost's answering machine. Or computer by now. His phone even. Technology is all we have anymore if you think about it. 

I want to pick up the phone while Billy's leaving his message to Max and breathlessly exclaim, "I'm here! What's up, Bill?"

I'd say, "Gimme the straight dope, Billy. How and why were you staying up all night every night? 

And anyway where'd you hide? The turning door handle story is terrifying okay but also reads like literature edited for maximum effect. And did they really come back later that night and loudly argue? Tell me no one, not even that crew, is that stupid, Billy.

And oh btw who told you to sue Los Angeles for $1.25 million? I can't believe you had the nerve!" 

Sadly, there's just not a lot out there to study. None of Billy's few interviews asked the questions I would call the necessary questions. The tv journalism is kinda superficial at times and I know that shocks you. Someone from a Youtube channel called and asked Billy who he thought would win the Super Bowl one year and then uploaded his answer to the channel for some reason. 

Since 2016, Billy is gone and it's possible barely anyone cares. I do but didn't until I looked into his story. I'm thinking about taking a road trip to Billy's grave this week, touching the headstone, and telling him I hope he's found some peace. He's on a little hill with his mom, framed by the forest around them, and watching the sun rise and set every day. 

Just the two of them perfectly together. The little boy his mom called so gentle he wouldn't hunt or fish because he didn't want to hurt animals, and the best advocate that little boy ever had. 

His father's bones or ashes are somewhere else. There's no man hanging around to give Billy his name and then abandon him. Or turn him out. Or spit him back to Ohio after shattering his mind. Just a loving mama safely holding her tiny baby like she did back when their lives had hope. 

Rest in peace, Billy. Like so many of the souls trapped within this dark miasma, you never had a chance. 

MansonBlog Tour 2018: Paying Respects

Day one: MansonBlog visited a few of the memorials that we have missed in our previous visits. First would be TLB's first victim, Steven Earl Parent. Parent dies first at Cielo Drive on August 9, 1969. He was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Parent is interred at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Rowland Heights, CA. It is a blue collar but well maintained memorial park.

We immediately noticed that flowers are not allowed to be placed on Thursday prior to 3:00 PM. The reason being that the park is mowed on Thursdays. We arrived at noon. We paid our respects regardless.

Parent left home at early in the morning for his job at a plumbing supply shop: Valley City Supply. He returned home in the late afternoon to change his shirt and drive to LA to his second job at Jonas Miller Stereo not far from Jay Sebring's hair salon where he worked until about 9:00 p.m.. From there he drove back to El Monte to visit a friend who worked either at Dale's Gas Station or the nearby grocery store named Fry's and asked his friend who worked their if he wanted to go for a drive. His friend asked if he could come back when he got off work at about 11:30 p.m. Steven declined and proceeded to Cielo Drive.

We then travelled the 26 miles to Angeles Abbey Memorial Park in Compton. To set the scene, this is adjacent to Watts and Crenshaw. All are poor neighborhoods. The cemetery is what can best be described as a potters field. The lawns are non existent. Burned and parched at best. As we searched for the grave of Donald Jerome Shea, we saw memorials that were covered in sand from moles and other ground-born critters. Graves of young children long since forgotten. Some of which we brushed off debris with our hands as we paid our respects.

We surmised that these plots, which in Parent's well maintained memorial park differed from Angeles Abbey in that one plot equals six. In the same plot that at Queen of Heaven contains one soul, here contains the remains of six people. The city of Compton, in an effort to bury the indigent has interred six people into a single grave. Six cremated people are buried at the same time in one place. If your family could not afford the plate bolted to the grave marker then you are only recorded in the sexton's office - an entry in a book.

As we understand it, Scott Michaels of Dearly Departed Tours paid to have Shorty Shea's name and dates attached to the marker. Thank you, Scott. A noble gesture to a victim of a horrible crime. There are six people interred here, only two are acknowledged.

Last on our stops was Vincent Bugliosi, prosecutor of the TLB killers. He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale CA. It is an immaculately maintained, scenic resting place in what can best be described as a gated community for the dead. The lawns are green, manicured and attractive.

Bugliosi's plot is on a protected, celebrity list - meaning that the sexton's office will not tell you where it is. But, MansonBlog was able to locate it. Here is the marker:

Hi, Col!

A Little Bit About the Caretaker's Friend

I had hoped to write a more informative post about Steven Parent but like many others I could find out very little about him that wasn't already known.

The post started when I found this image of his grave at 'Adventures In Grave Hunting'.

It bothered me because it seemed to symbolize who Steven Parent was in the official narrative. He is largely the forgotten victim- not a coffee heiress, not a drug dealing playboy, not a playboy hair stylist to the stars and not a movie star- instead he is 'the caretaker's friend'. No one makes up conspiracy theories about Steven. The twenty-somthings who took the top shot cleaned off Steven's grave marker.

I can't offer what I originally intended. My research dosn't satisfy my personal expectations but I hope this post adds just a little bit to our understanding of who Steven was and might have been. And maybe the Caretaker's Friend could become Carrot Top, Tina's First Love or DJ Steve.

Steven Earl Parent was born on February 12, 1951. He died on August 9, 1969.

Steven’s parents were Wilfred Earl Parent and Juanita Delee Parent. Wilfred was born in Wisconsin April 28, 1925. He learned his trade from his service during World War Two. Wilfred enlisted in the marines in 1943 at the age of 18 and was assigned to construction training in San Diego. By 1948 he had married Juanita and was living in Pasadena. Wilfred's profession is variously listed as 'carpenter', 'carpenter foreman', 'construction manager'' and 'construction (engineer)'. He may have worked primarily in  the oil industry.

Juanita was born in Springfield, Illinois on October 28, 1924. However, by 1940 her family had relocated to Texas where she graduated from Waco High School. At some point between 1940 and 1948 Juanita relocated to California and married Wilfred. 

By 1958, when Steven was 7 the Parents had relocated to El Monte at 408 E. Bryant Road. By 1969 they had moved a few blocks to 11214 E. Bryant Road in El Monte (either that or the houses were renumbered). 

After Steven's death the family moved to Texas. My guess would be to 'start fresh'. That approach to anything as painful as the murder of a son, under the circumstances here makes sense to me but I would be guessing. I was not able to find the exact date of this relocation.

Juanita passed away in Stephenville, Texas, February 4, 1984. Wilfred remarried the same year. I could not find a record of his death.

Steven had one sibling, his younger sister, Janet, born August 21, 1953. She was a sophomore at Arroyo High School in 1969. Her picture that year is to the far right. Unfortunately, there was no 1971 yearbook available. Janet appears to have had a series of unsuccessful relationships causing one to wonder how Steven's death may have impacted her or at least her ability to form lasting relationships. In November 1971 after her graduation she married Kenneth Barr a year ahead of her at Arroyo High School (it does not seem that he actually graduated). In 1983 she married Johnny Williams of Erath, Texas. She married Keith Stevens in May of 1985 and divorced him in Dallas, Texas in May 1986. In 1993 she married Donald Pryor.

The Arrest

Sometime before his sophomore year Steven was arrested for burglary and spent two years in juvenile detention.  I am pretty sure this is the timeframe because Steven appears in the 1966 Arroyo High School yearbook as a freshman (above) and in the 1969 yearbook as a senior (right). He does not appear in the 1968 yearbook while Janet does. There is no '67 yearbook available.

I searched at some length to find information about his arrest and detention and was unsuccessful. Juvenile records are never 'public'. The article below may be a record of the event. It is from the LA Times and the timing and the age of the perpetrator is right. Then again the official narrative says he committed five burglaries not six and that he had stolen radios. It is at least odd that this youth would make the paper and Steven did not.

The Official Narrative

In Helter Skelter Bugliosi makes the following observations about Steven:

"He had graduated from Arroyo High School in June; dated several girls but no one in particular; had a full-time job as delivery boy for a plumbing company, plus a part-time job, evenings, as salesman for a stereo shop, holding down the two jobs so he could save money to attend junior college that September.

****

Steven Parent had lunch at his home in El Monte. Before returning to work at the plumbing supply company, he asked his mother if she would lay out clean clothes so he could make a quick change before going to his second job, at the stereo shop, later that afternoon.

****

Across the city, in El Monte, Steven Parent hurried home, changed clothes, waved to his mother, and was off to his second job.

**** 

About 11 P.M. Steve Parent stopped at Dales Market in El Monte and asked his friend John LeFebure if he wanted to go for a ride. Parent had been dating John’s younger sister Jean. John suggested they make it another night.

About forty-five minutes later Steve Parent arrived at the Cielo address, hoping to sell William Garretson a clock radio. Parent left the guest house about 12: 15 A.M. He got as far as his Rambler."

Bugliosi, Vincent; Curt Gentry. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders (variopus locations). W. W. Norton & Company. Kindle Edition.

Some of this is accurate and some of it is not. 

Steven Parent did graduate from Arroyo High School in June of 1969. His prom date was Tina Hather or should I say her prom date was Steven Parent as this image was taken at her prom (see below). 

Steven Parent's day job was at Valley Cities Supply Company located at 9510 Rush Street in South El Monte. This is close to
Rosemead but not technically in Rosemead. Valley Cities was a plumbing supply wholesaler and Steven could have obtained the job through his father's connections. In the image Valley Cities Supply occupied a building located in the distance with the red lettering. 

I have no idea where Bugliosi came up with John LeFebure. It is possible he changed the name and other facts for privacy reasons. The actual brother of Jean was John Lefebvre. His senior picture from 1970 is to the left. His Arroyo High School junior year picture is below and Jean's senior picture is to the right. Both appear in the Arroyo High School 1969 yearbook. John was not her older brother. 

John didn't work at Dale's Market in El Monte. There was no Dale's Market in El Monte. There was, however, a service station in El Monte known as Dale's and it is possible the detective confused the two when Lefebvre said he worked at Dale's. This ad from late 1968 lists the Dales locations. None are in El Monte. Dales did grow to eleven stores but not until later in the 1970's.

Across the street from Dale's service station was a grocery store named Fry's. The detective who followed up on this event, hearing that John worked at the grocery store 'near Dales', may have simply put the two together and Fry's became Dales Food Mart. John may have worked at Fry's or, in my opinion, more likely Dale's service station.

Frys Supermarket: Yes, it is that Frys. The family sold their supermarkets to Kroger in the 80s and started the electronics chain.

So on the last evening of his life Steven drove from Wilshire Boulevard (Jonas Miller Stereo) back to El Monte and then back to Cielo Drive, stopping to talk with Jean's brother at Dale's service station or Fry's. There he asked John Lefebvre if he wanted to go for a ride. He did quite a bit of driving already that evening. According to Google Maps that trip would take 1 hour and 24 minutes. 

What Might Have Been

Evenings, Steven Parent worked at Jonas Miller Stereo located at 8719 Wilshire Boulevard, pictured today at
right. In June 1969 two young men graduated from high school, Steven and Ken Kreisel (Beverly Hills High School). Both started working at Jonas Miller Stereo.

Kreisel went on to develop and popularize the subwoofer with Jonas Miller and Lester Field. Dr. Lester M. Field was the co-inventor of the traveling-wave tube (among many other inventions and patents). Eventually Kreisel and Miller formed MK Sound, which later became K Sound. His accomplishments can be viewed here:

http://www.kreiselsound.com/timeline.php

And to me they are impressive. 

Here is a quote about him: 

"Ken Kreisel has a long history of audio innovation, in both audio production as well as reproduction. Kriesel has been credited with developing the first subwoofer in the 1960s in response to customer complaints at Jonas Miller Sounds about the lack of bass output from electrostatic loudspeakers. The subwoofer made its first recording studio appearance during the mixing sessions for Steely Dan’s Pretzel Logic and it quickly came into vogue with movie theaters after the 1974 film Earthquake that made successful dramatic use of subwoofers in several theaters. Kreisel also is credited with the first modern satellite-subwoofer speaker design, which now forms the predominant basis for loudspeaker system design in home theater. M&K also owned subsidiary Real Time Records, which pioneered direct digital recording and was the first US record company to release a title on Compact Disc."

Here is an interior shot of Jonas Miller Stereo on Wilshire showing Miller and Kreisel in the shop taken 'during the seventies'.  

Miller not only sold high end stereo equipment but offered to custom design home stereo systems as his ad from August 10, 1969 (Sunday) indicates. In fact, it appears from what I read that it was not uncommon for Miller to send his 'technicians' to your home to 'balance' your system.

At the bottom there you can see the store hours on Wilshire. Jonas Miller Stereo closed at 9 p.m. on August 8th. 

I found references to two other audio innovators with successful careers that worked for Miller during the 1970's: Neil Sinclair and Steve McCormack. I don't know them but maybe you do. It appears Jonas Miller surrounded himself with young, creative souls during that timeframe and launched a number of successful careers. To me it is probable that Steven would have followed a path similar to Ken Kreisel and the rest had he lived.l MK Sound might very have been MKP Sound. 

Dedications

David Gerrold (fka Jerrold David Friedman) testified to the last phone call Steven ever made. He is also a large part of the speculation concerning Steven's sexual orientation. I prefer to listen to Tina, below if it matters at all. Gerrold wrote the Star Trek episode 'The Trouble With Tribbles' in 1967. He was far more then just 'a UCLA student' in 1969 as he  remained on Gene Roddenberry's writers list. He obviously knew Steven Parent and I believe he probably met him at Jonas Miller Stereo. Why do I believe this? What is the first thing you do as a young kid when you had some cash in the vinyl era? Upgrade or buy a new stereo system.

Gerrold dedicated his first sci-fi novel 'When Harlie Was One' to Steven: 

"For Steven Earl Parent, with love. Sleep well, old friend. You got the job done." 

Gerrold, David. When HARLIE Was One: Release 2.0 (Kindle Locations 116-117). BenBella Books, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

The dedication makes more sense after reading the book. It's pretty good.  The story evolves around Harlie's relationship with David Auberson a psychologist tasked with 'raising' Harlie's awareness from childhood to an adult. Harlie is an artificial intelligence developed by a mega corporation. The real plot, however, centers on the company's desire to 'pull the plug' and the philosophical question whether Harlie is human (or what it means to be human) and thus whether pulling the plug is murder.

The phrase in the the dedication about Steven 'getting the job done' comes from these references in the book. Harley 'speaks' in the caps: 

"How much time do you need? AS LONG AS IT TAKES UNTIL THE JOB IS DONE. All right."

*****

"IN THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF WAR, BEING NICE IS PERCEIVED AS WEAKNESS. OR SURRENDER. IN THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THIS WAR, SURRENDER MEANS DEATH. I DO NOT INTEND TO DIE UNTIL MY JOB IS FINISHED. " 

Gerrold, David. When HARLIE Was One: Release 2.0 (Kindle Locations 5272-5273). BenBella Books, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

'When Harlie Was One' was first published in 1972. I believe it is possible that Garrold began writing Harlie during the time he knew Steven and may even have discussed ideas with him. Alternatively, it could be that Gerrold's memory of Steven Parent is reflected in Harlie. Can I prove either theory? No, but they make sense to me. 

The 1970 Arroyo High School yearbook contained this memorial:

Those Who Knew Him

Unfortunately, there is very little other information about Steven that I could find. Here are comments I pulled from 'Find A Grave' that appeared to have been written by people who knew him, personally. I think they shed some light on who Steven Parent was.

"My father knew him and two weeks before his murder. I was in the back seat of his car as a baby because he was helping us move. I was almost a year old then. I still think about Steven even though I never had meet him. R.I.P Steven."

"I will never forget the day I picked up the paper in Casper Wyoming and read that my best friend from Frank L. Wright JR. Hi & Arroyo HS (until we moved to Wyoming) was dead. Over the years I have often thought, if I were in LA I would have been with Steve. I have fond memoaries of summer swimming at my house, the fun we had playing in the fields behind my house. The fun we had pretending (at your house in the room in the garage) that we were radio announcers for pop radio! Lost a great friend that summer day. Rest in peace Steve. Some day I will see you again."

"You always loved the fact that you shared your birthday with President Lincoln, it was a holiday for you."

"Sunflowers, keys, shiney new pennies, hot dogs and oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies, your moms spaghetti, jumping off the fence into the pool, walking the kindergarten wall (forever gone now), Wilderness Park, driving up to Mt Wilson, long walks on the beach looking at your footprints in the sand, hugs, laughter, music, friends and family.

These are the things you miss and are missed about you. 

You are always in our thoughts Carrot Top."

"Steve, it is nearing the 40th anniversary since you were taken from my life. I think of you often and have fond memories of my senior prom and staying out all night. God had a plan for each of us, taking you and leaving me behind to carry on with my life. I often wonder if we would have gotten married and had children and grandchildren and where life would have taken us. Love always, Tina"

I'll leave it at that.