Gilbert W. Parish

Gilbert W. Parish, 93 a retired school administrator, died May 8 at The Summit at Westlake Hills in Austin, TX where he had been a patient for the past few years. Born April 16, 1913 in Mission, TX, the second son and third child of Millard and Ruth Wilkerson Parish, he grew up in Fort Worth where he graduated from Polytechnic High School. He took an additional year of high school post¬graduate studies until he could save enough money to enroll at Texas Wesleyan College, which had just changed from a Methodist college for women. At TWC he was student body president and was named to Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities and later was president of the Texas Wesleyan University Alumni Association. He held a full-time job as night manager of the Western Union office in downtown Fort Worth while attending college. He got his start with Western Union delivering messages by bicycle. He later earned a master's degree in School Administration at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, TX. Following his graduation from TWC in 1940, he married classmate, Annie Jo Medlock at her home in Roscoe, TX. To this union were born three sons, Leslie Joe, in 1941 in Sweetwater; James Gilbert in 1942 in Odessa, and John Dennis in 1947 in Loraine. All three sons are college graduates; Leslie earned a PhD in nuclear physics from Florida State University; James is a graduate of the University of Texas, and John has an engineering degree from Texas A&I University at Kingsville. Gilbert got his first job as an educator as a math teacher in Odessa, TX during WWII. He then became superintendent in the Loraine, Texas School District. He was a teacher, principal and superintendent in West Texas schools before moving to Corpus Christi, TX, where he served as principal of a junior high school for many years. He was an active member of the Kiwanis Club and a lifelong active member of the Methodist Church. Following his retirement as a junior high principal in Corpus Christi in the late 1970s, Gilbert and Annie Jo, who was in poor health at this time, moved to Austin where their middle son, James, lived. Annie Jo finally succumbed to complications from Alzheimer's Disease on Dec. 14, 1991, a week short of her 75th birthday. She was buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Fort Worth in a plot where Gilbert's remains will be laid to rest. In May 1994 at the age of 79, Gilbert married Mary Jackson, a 78-year-old Austin widow. Mary was the daughter of a Christian Church minister and grew up in several Texas towns where her father was a pastor and graduated from high school in Lockhart, TX, and shortly after that her family moved to Austin. Mary had worked for an insurance company as a secretary and rate clerk and was working part-time for Central Insurance Agency when she and Gilbert met. Mary passed away Aug. 14, 2002 at the age of 86. Following her death, Gilbert sold their home and moved into The Summit, an assisted living facility in Austin. Gilbert was devoted to his extended family and participated in frequent family reunions in Fort Worth and other locations in Texas. In 1999, more than 100 cousins and assorted kin gathered in Fort Worth and nearby Parker County to celebrate the 110th anniversary of his mother's birth. Mr. Parish is survived by his sons, Dr. Leslie J. Parish of Centreville, VA, James G. Parish of Austin, and John D. Parish of Crane Hill, AL; a brother. John M. Parish of Franklin, TN., and three sisters, Marjorie Felder of Keller, TX., Doris Warren of Dallas, and Virginia Phillips of Fort Worth; five grandchildren and five great-¬grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents; his wives, Annie Jo Medlock Parish and Mary Jackson Parish; brothers Kenneth Parish and Laverne Parish and sisters Elizabeth Parish and Lois Duppstadt. Visitation will be on Monday, May 12th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 at First Methodist Church in Austin, 1201 Lavaca, with graveside services at 3:30 pm at Greenwood Cemetery in Fort Worth.