MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Bobby Eugene Parham is being remembered by those who knew him as a giant of a public servant to the people he served in Milledgeville and Baldwin County, as well as thousands of other Georgians. The former state lawmaker died Monday. He was 75.

Funeral services are set for 2 p.m. Wednesday at Northside Baptist Church with the Dr. Jerry Pickard officiating. Burial will follow at Baldwin Memorial Gardens.

Parham, who was pharmacist by profession, was a democrat in the Georgia Legislature for more than three decades. He served as a state lawmaker from 1975 until 2009.

During that period, Parham served in many top leadership positions. He served on the Health and Ecology Committee; Banks and Banking Committee; Rules and Appropriations and Motor Vehicles Committee from 1991 until 2008.

Parham also served as a member of the Baldwin County Board of Commissioners from 1969 until 1974.

Rusty Kidd, a former state representative, who took Parham’s seat in the Georgia House of Representatives after Parham was elected to a seat on the board of the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), remembered his longtime friend on Monday.

“Bobby worked for worked for my daddy (the late state Sen. Culver Kidd) at his drug store right here in Milledgeville when he was going to school at the University of Georgia to become a pharmacist,” Kidd recalled during a telephone interview with The Union-Recorder.

Kidd, who recently retired as a state representative from Milledgeville, said Parham helped pass a lot of legislation through the years in Georgia.

“One of his best friends was Rick Allen, who heads the Georgia Drug Enforcement Agency,” Kidd said. “Bobby worked very closely with the state’s pharmacy board and DEA. He helped write some very important drug dispensing legislation through the years.”

Kidd said Parham represented the community that he served in state government “extremely well” when it came to serving the people of Milledgeville and Baldwin County — the people he loved and cared about so much.

Kidd said when his father passed away after a long political career in state government that many people turned to Parham for help and advice in political matters.

“Bobby really stepped up to the plate, and represented the district extremely well,” Kidd said. “If he had not been there after daddy died, we would have been in rough shape.”

While serving as a state lawmaker, Parham was instrumental in getting a lot of state funding for the continuation of Central State Hospital in Milledgeville, which provided hundreds and hundreds of jobs at one time.

The old kitchen on the campus of Central State Hospital is named the Bobby E. Parham Kitchen in honor the longtime state lawmaker.

As another way to honor Parham, the bridge that overlooks the Oconee River in Milledgeville, was named after him in 2014 by officials with GDOT.

Parham, who had battled diabetes for many years, Kidd said, had been in declining health for several years.

“I guess it (diabetes) just finally took its toll,” he added. “We’re going to miss Bobby, because he did lots and lots of good things for this community over the years.”

Mike Couch, executive director of the Central State Hospital Local Redevelopment Authority, said Parham’s death was sad to him because he and his family had been longtime friends of Parham and his family.

“My dad, (the late T.W. Couch) always called Rep. Parham one of the best men that ever walked under the Gold Dome,” said Couch, reached by telephone as he was driving back from the state capitol in Atlanta on Monday.

The elder Couch, a former county commissioner back in the 1950s in Baldwin County, worked as the county’s engineer and was county road superintendent for many years.

“My dad thought Bobby was one of the most selfless servants that this community has ever produced,” Couch said. “Bobby was respected everywhere in Milledgeville and Baldwin County. His death is a tremendous loss to the community.”

Couch recalled that Parham was a man who enjoyed giving back to his community.

He said he thought Parham’s legacy would be that he fulfilled the role and character of what a true public political servant should be.

“He (Parham) gave selflessly,” Couch said. “He always took time out to take care of his constituents. He was just a good, honorable man. He was a giant in our community.”

Parham is survived by his wife, Juanita N. Parham; two daughters, Alisa P. Dennis and her husband, Jack; and Audra P. Butler and her husband, Jody, all of Milledgeville. He also is survived by two sisters, Betty Wooten, of Eatonton; and Faye Smith, of Milledgeville, as well as five grandchildren.

The Parham family will receive friends from 1 p.m. until 2 p.m. Wednesday at Northside Baptist Church.

The family has asked that memorial contributions be made to Northside Baptist Church.