Richard “Dick” Charles Parsell

Richard “Dick” Charles Parsell, age 87, passed away at his home in Georgetown, Texas, on October 17, 2019. He was born on May 28, 1932, in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho, to Helen (Anderson) and Garrett Harvey Parsell. Dick spent his early childhood on a large sheep ranch in the northwest corner of Montana, bordering Canada.  After WWII the demand for lamb and wool declined, so Harvey left the ranching to his brother and moved his family to Shelby, Montana.  In high school, Dick enjoyed music, played in the band, worked with his dad in a Culligan franchise and played on “high school’s worst” football team.

After high school, he studied for a year at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, and a year at the University of Oregon before enlisting in the Coast Guard in September 1952. After four years of active duty, Dick served an additional eight years in the Coast Guard Reserves and enrolled at the University of Colorado to study electrical engineering, where he earned his degree in three years.  Three days before graduating, he met the love of his life, Dorothy “Jan” Gray, and two days after meeting her, when his parents arrived for his graduation, he introduced her to them as “the girl he was going to marry!”  Dick and Jan got married 11 months later, on April 9, 1960, in Downey, Carolina.

For most of his career, Dick worked for Honeywell in Florida and Minnesota as an avionics engineer. Upon retiring from Honeywell, Dick realized his lifelong dream of returning to northwestern Montana when he and Jan bought a piece of property with an old cabin on it and a stream running through it in Rexford, Montana. Dick renovated the cabin and a large workshop, and they enjoyed “life on the mountain” with their malamute, Nuke, until health issues forced their return to lower altitude and closer proximity to medical care and they moved to Georgetown, Texas. 

Dick was most proud of the children he and Jan raised, and his grandchildren.  He is survived by his wife of 59 years (Jan), his daughter and son-in-law (Dawn and Glen Otto), his son (Doug Parsell), his granddaughters (Karie Otto and Willow Parsell) and his grandson (Ryan Otto). A private memorial was held.