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.