Robert "Bob" Parker

Robert (Bob) Michael Parker, 71, went to be with our Lord on Wednesday, October 19, 2022 at his home in Springdale, Arkansas.

Bob was born in Louisville, Kentucky on December 15, 1950 to Reverend Robert A. and Thelma Miller Parker, the first of five siblings. Bob was an extraordinary person who was loved and admired by all. As the son of a Baptist minister, Bob lived in several different communities in Arkansas; Decatur, North Little Rock, Camden, and Batesville, he never met a stranger and never forgot a face. He graduated from Camden Fairview High School in 1969 and attended the University of Arkansas where he received a Bachelor of Elementary Education Degree in 1973. Bob's first teaching position was at Floral Elementary, where he taught 6th grade, drove the basketball bus to away games, and kept the score clock at home games. He moved to Jonesboro to complete his Masters' Degree in Educational Administration and taught at Weiner Elementary for a year. For the next six years, he was a teacher, peewee basketball coach, score clock keeper, and bus driver (basketball bus as well as a regular bus route) at Cushman Elementary.

In the fall of 1985, he was hired as a 6th grade teacher at Southside Elementary where he would finish his career. He was the girls' peewee basketball coach as well as the summer T-ball/baseball coach for peewees. He was a regular bus driver and also drove the pep squad bus for the cheerleaders and drill teams. He was the Elementary assistant principal and then the principal in his last few years at Southside. Bob's love for his students was evident in the way he treated them and the way they loved him. He was never happier than when he was working with his "kids." In 1995, his health forced him to retire from teaching and he became a Southside School Board Member for the next ten years.

In his later years, his greatest joy was spending time with his family, taking multiple trips on Carnival Cruise ships, playing board games with his grandchildren, going to their activities, and playing Spades or Rummikub. Bob loved to read, listen to audio books, watch television (especially John Wayne movies and the History Channel), crochet, do counted cross stitch and diamond dot pictures, and talk to people about Jesus. As such, we know he is celebrating and praising his Jesus and enjoying seeing all his friends and family who were awaiting his arrival in Heaven.

He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Jean Brown Parker, his daughter (and the light of his life) Jami Marie Forrester and her husband Greg, and his two grandchildren, Parker EvaMarie Forrester and Wyatt Scott Forrester. Bob's surviving siblings are David (Susan) Parker, Kathryn (Scott) Blackwell, Suzanne (Erby) Burgess, and Ellis (Mona) Parker.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his father and mother-in-law, Henry and Marie Brown, and his grandparents, Eugene and Grace Parker and George and Evelyn Miller.

A visitation with family has been scheduled in Springdale at Calvary Baptist Church, 1000 N. Gutensohn Road on Sunday, October 23 from 1 to 3 p.m. Contact number for information: 479-427-6550

A memorial service will be held at First Baptist Church, Batesville, Arkansas, on Thursday, October 27, at 6:30 p.m. There will be a time of visitation with the family following the service. Bob will be buried at Pleasant Valley Cemetery near Cushman, Arkansas.

Memorials may be made to the charity/organization of choice.