Kathryn Parsons

Kathryn S. Parsons, 78, of Danville passed away at 8:42 a.m. Sunday (June 23, 2019) at home with her family by her side.

Kathy was born in Danville on May 19, 1941, the second daughter of Alonzo Euel White and Inez Mildred (Owens) White. She married Kenneth L. Parsons on October 9, 1960. He survives. Also surviving are daughters, Tamara (Dennis) Hardin of Indianapolis and Melissa Wood (Guy Felkner) of Tolono, grandchildren, Jesse and Anna Wood of Tolono, sisters, Marilyn Lynn of Oakwood, Rebecca (Alan) Woodrum of Danville, and Angie Shaffer of Tilton, and many nieces, nephews, and great nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, and many aunts and uncles.

Kathy attended Collett Grade School and graduated from Danville High School. She graduated from Danville Beauty School and worked at Meis as a hairdresser until the birth of her first child. While her children were growing up she was a homemaker, room mother at Northeast Grade School, taught Sunday school, vacation Bible school, and also did hair part time at home. In the mid 1980s Kathy reentered the workforce as a fabric clerk at Zayre and later Hills. She became friends with many of her regular customers.

Sewing was a lifelong interest and hobby of Kathys starting from a young age with sewing clothes for her own childhood dolls. When her girls were young, she enjoyed sewing matching outfits for them. She could always be counted on to sew a costume for a school play, Halloween, or Madrigal singer, whatever need arose. Kathy was artistic and creative and enjoyed sewing unique Halloween costumes for many family members.

During the 1990s, she sewed dolls, bunnies, and bears and sold them at local craft fairs. During this decade she and Kenny took up country dance, taking lessons and making many friends along the way.

Kathy attended morning aerobics classes at the YWCA for many years, first with instructor Deb Strader and most recently with instructor Glenda Brooks. She had attended until early 2019.

Kathy took care of her parents as they aged and became a faithful visitor to family and friends in nursing homes. An overarching theme of her life was taking care of others. Many have benefitted from her faithfulness, attention, and caring nature.

Kathy loved children and made a difference in the lives of many children over the years including family, neighbors, her childrens friends, or any child who wandered into her life. She had a heart for less fortunate children and enjoyed donating warm hats and gloves to the Angel Tree and similar organizations.

She attended all of her childrens and grandchildrens school events and activities.

She loved to decorate for all the holidays, and the more lights and noise that a decoration had, the better. In recent years she would decorate several Christmas trees throughout her home, each with a different theme. One of her favorite themes was Toy Story as she had a sizable collection of Toy Story items. Her daughters enjoyed contributing items to match her themes.

Kathy was raised, and also raised her children, in the Free Methodist church. She and Ken have attended Pleasant Grove Bible Chapel for the past 16 years. She was a woman of faith and her faith sustained her during difficult times. She liked to post favorite Bible scriptures around the house where they could encourage and uplift her.

Kathy was a breast cancer survivor, a West Nile Virus survivor, and had been in excellent health until January of this year. In late April, she was diagnosed with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, also known as Parkinsons Plus. It was a very fast progression, and she ultimately died of complications from this disease.

We will miss her shriek of laughter when her kids or grandkids did something funny. Her grandkids will especially miss playing the card game "Authors" with her. She made a house a home with lots of love and laughter.

We will to try to fill the enormous void that her passing leaves behind in our lives.

A Celebration of Life Service will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, June 27, 2019 at Sunset Funeral Home and Cremation Center in Danville, 3940 N Vermilion St, Danville, IL 61834. Burial will be at Sunset Memorial Park in Danville. Visitation will be held the evening prior on Wednesday, June 26, 2019 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the funeral home.

Please join Kathys family in sharing memories, photos, and videos on her tribute wall at www.sunsetfuneralhome.com.

Services Visitation Wednesday June 26, 2019 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM Sunset Funeral Homes & Memorial Park 3940 N. Vermilion Street Danville, IL 61834-1 Celebration of Life Thursday June 27, 2019 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM Life Service (Danville)