Randy Kelly Parker

Our dad, Randy Parker, never met a classic monster movie or KISS song he didn't love. On February 24, 2026, he took his final bow, leaving behind a life as bold, loud, and unforgettable as the music he played and the films he cherished.

Randy Kelly Parker was born September 6, 1959, to John Junior Parker and Naomi Ruth Parker (Tabor). Some say that when he was born, the delivery lights dimmed, and somewhere in the distance, a tiny air guitar solo could be heard.

When he wasn't listening to his music or watching his movies, he found time for an occupation. He worked at St. John's (now Mercy) in Springfield, Missouri, for 25 years. He started in housekeeping, but with hard work, long nights, and a perfectionist attitude, he became a nurse. He worked at St. John's in the emergency room until 2001. From there, he traveled all over the United States, landing in South Carolina, Mississippi, Kansas, and Texas before finally finding his way back to Missouri. He retired in 2012.

When Dad retired, it simply meant that he adopted the title of "phone menace". If you were his child or grandchild, he'd learn your schedule and make sure he called you no less than 5 times a day. Phone calls consisted of "whatcha doin", "whatcha making for dinner", "where are my grandbabies", and inevitably led to "did you see what is playing on Svengoolie this weekend? He'd tell you to bring him food, not to get after his grandkids, and if you were really lucky, he'd give you a monster quiz. Did you know that two actors played Gill-Man on Creature from the Black Lagoon? Now you do. You can thank him for that.

And then there were his dogs. With faces that only a mother could love, or in this case, a father. The blind, deaf, snaggle-toothed, crooked-eared, questionably proportioned little creatures known as Baby and Beau were his companions until they passed in 2025. Other people would have, and did, gasp in horror, but to Dad, they were absolute perfection. They weren't just his pets; they were his couch companions. His love for his dogs said everything about him; he had a loyalty that ran deep and a tenderness few saw, as it was wrapped in rock n roll and monster movie marathons.

In the end, the man who loved monsters, music, and misfit dogs loved his family most of all. His life was loud, funny, stubborn, and deeply devoted, and that devotion lives on in the people who knew him best.

Randy was preceded in death by his parents, John Junior and Naomi Ruth, his brother Billy Wayne, his sister Johnann, and his grandparents. He is survived by his daughters Charity Bryant (Danny), Kelly Foreman, Sarah Hursman (Adam), Rachel See (Tyler), and Kaitlyn King (Parker); his son Ryan Parker (Taylor); his 20 grandchildren; his 18 great-grandchildren; his sister Sherry Hensley (Brent); along with other extended family and friends who will miss him dearly.

In Randy's true, independent, and stubborn style, he asked to be cremated with no formal services. The family will celebrate his life in our own way around his birthday, and hopefully, we will hear that tiny air guitar solo play just for him.

In memory of the tenderness he showed to his canine misfits and every dog he encountered, the family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Southwest Missouri Humane Society in his honor.