Parkin was manager of Waechter Bros., a wholesale and retail store dealing in cured fresh meats in Fairbanks.

In the October 28, 1918 News Miner, Parin was listed among the 350 passengers who lost their lives when the Canadian Pacific steamer Princess Sophia was wrecked on Vanderbilt reef in the Lynn Canal on October 25, 1918. The steamer had been sent to Skagway to bring out a large number of Fairbanks, Yukon River and Dawson passengers who were stranded there for lack of transportation, thus the passenger list consisted of nearly all well-known Alaskans.

In noting Parkin's death, the paper referred to him as a "pioneer of the North".

He was one of the eight original regents appointed to the board in 1917 by Governor J.F.A. Strong. John A. McIntosh, Fairbanks businessman, was appointed to take his place on the board.

Credits: Board of Regents file - HB Parkin