Betty Lou Parrish

Betty Lou (Balsover) Parrish was born on December 4, 1929 in Springerton, Illinois of father Granville E. Balsover and mother Wreath Irene (Cochran) Balsover. Betty died February 1, 2026 in Olathe, Kansas.

She leaves her husband of 73 years, Roger Warren Parrish. She had two older brothers Granville Junior, who died at age 2, Donald Laverne, and younger brothers Carroll Dean and Curtis Ray and a younger sister Joy Jean.

While growing up, her father was postmaster and had some acreage where he had planted fruit trees. Granville made college education a priority for all the children. The supplemental income from the orchard provided the monies for college. Betty attended Graceland College at Lamoni, Iowa and completed 2 years earning an associate degree in business in June 1949. After college she moved to Independence, MO where she found employment as a secretary at the world headquarters of the Community of Christ.

In 1950 she met Roger who had graduated that June from Missouri University at Columbia, Missouri. They were of the same faith and met at a youth function at Stone Church in August. They dated continuously after their first meeting. In April of 1951 Roger was drafted into the U.S. Army. He did basic training at Ft. Riley, Kansas and was able to see Betty most weekends. After basic training, he was transferred to the Army Chemical Center at Edgewood Arsenal near Baltimore Maryland. While stationed there he proposed to Betty and they were married while he was still in the army. They started married life with $20 while living in housing provided by the army.

Betty worked for the U.S. Army as secretary in the same building as Roger. Upon completion of his army obligation, they moved back to Independence, Missouri where both were employed at the refinery of Standard Oil Co. After a few years they undertook to build their own house. Betty and Roger worked on the house for 4 years and when completed it was totally paid for.

They began a family. Betty gave birth to their first son, Stephen on March 28th of 1958, followed by Craig born on the 9th March of 1960 and Jeffrey born in September 11th of 1962.

After Roger worked for Standard Oil for 5 years, he moved on to more responsible jobs all in the Kansas City area. In 1964 they started a succession of transfers that had them moving often to diverse locations. They bought houses with each move. Betty kept busy establishing the home decorating and buying furniture as needed. They lived in Missouri, California, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Colorado. By this time Roger started his own company and Betty worked with him doing secretarial services for their company. His work took him all over the world to clients in many European and Asian countries. After their sons were grown, they were able to travel together and see the world together.

With each move they were able to make friends through their church affiliation and through social contacts. Betty was a natural at making friends wherever she went. Betty learned to play bridge and became quite accomplished. Betty was part of many groups where she made enduring friendships. In 1982, Betty and Roger returned to the mid-west to live and make Overland Park, Kansas their home. They built a house in Nottingham subdivision in Overland Park where they have lived ever since. Betty continued to work with Roger until he retired in 2010. In 2022 they moved to Silvercrest at Deer Creek, an independent living facility, to ease the burdens of home and car ownership.

Betty was renowned for her culinary skills, especially for her pies. They always had sit-down family dinners. The home they had in Pittsburgh had two large apple trees that produced enough apples for three pies a week. When the apples were ripe, she made a fresh pie every night. To have pies the rest of the year, Betty froze pealed apples mixed with spices in Ziplock bags.

Roger was in sales for a chemical company in Pittsburgh that had foreign client visitors. Rather than let the visitors find their way in a strange city for that evening, Betty was hostess for diners in their home. This was much appreciated and very much help in client relations.

Betty and Roger helped organize trips for dear friends from Stone Church, where they attended for many years. They took 11 world trips for groups of 40 over a 25-year period, mostly to Europe.

Betty leaves behind Roger Parrish, her husband of 73 years, her three sons; Stephen, Craig and Jeffrey. Steve was married to Megan (Melancon) who is now deceased. Craig married Lana (Jenson) and they have children Brett, Alyssa (Parrish) Zabel, and Austin. Jeffrey married Margaret (Savage) and they have children Kelly, Connor (Kelly’s Twin) and Cameron. Betty’s sister and brothers are deceased. She leaves nephews James Allen Balsover, Diane Yvonne (Balsover) Reich, Lisa Renee (Balsover) Machkovich, all children of Donald Balsover.

Betty was always calm, kind, loving, patient and understanding. With Roger travelling so much raising the family became a major activity in her child rearing years. Following their educational needs and the health of the family was her central focus. The measure of her success is seen in the exemplary lives of her three sons.

A memorial service will be held on February 21, 2026, from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm at Community of Christ, located at 7842 Mission Road, Prairie Village, KS, 66208. A reception with light refreshments will follow from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm at the same location.