Robert Ray Parsley

Robert Ray Parsley, age 84, of Hampton, died Saturday, December 8, 2007, at Memorial Hospital in Aurora.

Funeral Services will be held at 2:00 P.M., Tuesday, December 11th at Higby-McQuiston Chapel in Aurora. Rev. Loren Cooper will officiate. Interment will be in the Hampton Cemetery. Visitation will be from 1:00 to 8:00 P.M. Monday at Higby-McQuiston Mortuary. The family will receive friends from 1 – 4. Memorials may be made to Hampton High School, where six of his children and eight of his grandchildren have graduated. Condolences may be e-mailed to the family through the mortuary website at www.higbymortuary.com.

OBITUARY: ROBERT RAY PARSLEY

Robert Ray Parsley, the son of James Bert and Zina (Moore) Parsley, was born at Oakley, Kentucky on January 5, 1923 and died in Aurora, Nebraska on December 8, 2007, at the age of 84.

He graduated from East Bernstadt High School in 1939 and Eastern Kentucky State College in 1952. Ray served four years in the U.S. Army during World War II.

Ray was united in marriage to Marie Chadwell on December 23,1950 at Jellico, Tennessee. They have been married 56 years.

Ray entered the teaching profession in 1954 in Nebraska, where he taught Social Studies and P.E. for 31 years, during this time he coached basketball for 19 years and volleyball for 12 years. He taught at Riverton and Wilsonville (where he coached Bill Holliday, a respected and well-known coach, for all of his high school years), at Doniphan where he had a number of good basketball teams, at Table Rock for one year and Hampton where he coached the volleyball team to the State Title in 1979. He also coached some well-respected 8-man football teams and track teams. During the summer, Ray coached baseball from young players through to the Legion teams. Most will remember Ray for his personality and competitiveness. He retired from Hampton in 1984.

He was preceded in death by his parents, five brothers, one sister and an infant granddaughter, Randi Lynn.

Those left to cherish his memory are his wife, Marie of Hampton; four sons, Robert Ray (Bob) Jr. and his wife Kathy of Rising City, Gary Lynn of Hampton, James Darrell and his wife Barb and Myron Dean and his wife Holly all of Lincoln; three daughters, Joyce Ann Martin and her husband Ron, Debra Kay Joseph and her husband Jerl and Karen Lee Gaughen and her husband Pat all of Hampton; 18 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.