Esther Parrish

Esther Parrish (Aristea Paraskevas) died May 1, 2017. She was born, depending on the consulted source, on either July 28, 1927, or July 27, 1928, in Monovasia, Greece, the third daughter of Manuel Parrish and Katherine Stratacos Parrish. Born an American citizen by virtue of her father being a naturalized citizen at the time of her birth, she came to America with him on the same passport.

Esther spent her early childhood in Passaic, New Jersey, and Charleston, South Carolina, until the family finally settled in Augusta, Georgia, where she graduated salutatorian from Tubman High School. After attending the Junior College of Augusta, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.

She lacked a degree in education, she was deemed not qualified to teach by the Richmond County Board of Education. She thus began her teaching career at LBC High School in South Carolina. After one year at LBC and receiving her teaching certificate, she joined the founding faculty at Langford Junior High School in Augusta, teaching English grammar, composition, and literature from Room 2 for the next 29 years. She continued at the Augusta Preparatory School following her retirement from public education, teaching English.

Her parents and two sisters, Anastasia (Tessie) Parrish and Mary Parrish Dalis, predeceased her. She is survived by her nephews, John Spyros Dalis (Ann Marie) and Manny James Dalis (Jo Nell); eight great-nieces and one great-nephew; and three great-grand nieces and one great-grandnephew; as well as her extended Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church family, who all affectionately knew her as “Thitsa”; and countless former students.

Her students who struggled to correctly diagram a sentence and to read Romeo and Juliet and “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” owe her a debt of gratitude for providing them with the tools to communicate effectively an idea with the written word. To her students who here correctly identified a few of Miss Parrish’s deadly sins of composition–the comma splice, dangling participle, and split infinitive–you receive an A while the rest of us receive a red-pencil 0.

Funeral services will be held at 11a.m. on Thursday, May 4, 2017 in the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church. Burial will follow in Magnolia Cemetery. The family will receive friends on Wednesday, May 3, 2017 at the Elliott Sons Funeral Home-Columbia Rd. from 6 to 8 p.m. with the Trisagion service beginning at 7 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, 953 Telfair Street Augusta, Georgia 30901 or the charity of choice.