WILTON – Police Chief Jim Parker has it planned. In October he’ll be bird hunting. In November he’ll be deer hunting and in December he’s going to prepare to ice-fish the rest of the winter.

His wife, Patti, asked him about housework, he said, and he told her he’d try to fit it in.

Parker, who has been patrolling the streets of Wilton for more than 30 years, says it’s time for a change.

He turns 62 on Aug. 19 and retires from the force Sept. 7.

After a bout with cancer three years ago, Parker said, he started contemplating retirement.

“It kind of changed my attitude about working all the time and wanting to live life to the fullest,” he said.

“Police work is stressful. It’s stressful as an officer and it’s stressful as an administrator with budgets and so forth,” he added.

But, he added, this year’s budget crunch at town meeting wasn’t a factor in his decision to retire.

Parker credits his wife, who is 18 years younger than him, with saving his life. She’s a registered nurse at Franklin Memorial Hospital and is always making sure he gets his physicals, he said, and it paid off when cancer was detected early three years ago.

The chief also has a condition in which his heart doesn’t beat correctly. It happened again three weeks ago and he ended up in the intensive care unit.

Parker remembers that he used to ride around in the late 1960s with his cousin, Farmington police officer Sheridan Smith, who later became a Farmington police chief.

“I guess it was the excitement of being in a cruiser,” Parker said. “It was a 57 Chevy at the time. It was the thrill of stopping people. … speeders … I decided I liked it.”

Then a young man in his 20s, Parker worked on his parents’ farm and as a hand-sewer at G.H. Bass for a time.

The family initially raised cattle and then got into raising chickens. When his father, Aaron Parker, got older, Parker bought the family farm. He continues to look after his mother, Blanche, who lives next door.

Parker continued raising cattle until last year, when he sold his herd because he knew he would be retiring.

He was hired by the town of Wilton on Nov. 21, 1971, and worked for the Highway Department before he transferred to the Police Department.

Times have changed in police work, he said: Crimes are more serious and there are lot of state mandates and laws that make it difficult for police to do their jobs.

During his 30 years, Parker said the department has done its best to keep people safe.

He’ll be reverting to his hobbies come September, he said – lots of outdoor sports and gardening.

His half-acre garden is a stress reliever, he said.

“I’m looking forward to a change,” he said. “I’ll probably miss knowing what’s going on in town. I’m going to walk away from it.”

“I’m going to look forward to doing something different. I’m going with an open mind to try something different and enjoy the rest of my life. I expect for a time when a cruiser goes by with lights and sirens that I’ll probably be wondering what’s going on,” he said. “It will seem kind of odd: I won’t have a cruiser in my yard, I’ll have room to park my own vehicle.”