Melissa A. Jerrell

1951 - 2018

Melissa A. (Parrott) Jerrell

Tucson, AZ - Melissa A. Jerrell, 66, lost her battle with cancer at her home in Tucson, Arizona, on March 14, 2018. She was born December 28, 1951, in Iowa City to Charles F. and Lois B. (Bengston) Parrott, and grew up near Cosgrove and in Iowa City. She graduated from City High School in Iowa City in 1970, moving to Tucson the same year. Melissa was married February 16, 1971, to Donald A. Jerrell and worked as a dispatcher and executive secretary for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 428 for many years before getting her degree in accounting from the University of Phoenix in 1998. She then worked for Raytheon for two years in the Marshall Islands, after which she returned to Tucson and was employed as an accountant at Longley Tax & Financial Services. She later operated her own bookkeeping business. She was an avid traveler and had traveled through most of the U.S., much of Europe, and many exotic places in the Pacific. Melissa was preceded in death by her husband, parents, a sister Constance Moffett and brother Mark Parrott. She is survived by two children, Christine (Joey) Fimbres of Oro Valley and Keith Jerrell of Tucson, Arizona; three grandchildren, Michael, Isabel and Nicholas Fimbres; her close friend, Phillip "Smitty" Smith of Tucson; one sister, Debra White of North Liberty; and one brother, Timothy Parrott of Iowa City. There were no funeral services. Her ashes will be interred beside her husband in Evergreen Memorial Park in Tucson, Arizona, at a later date.