Cecil H. Parrett

Cecil Herndon Parrett

Cecil Herndon Parrett, 84, life-long Topeka resident, died Saturday, June 21, 2003, at a Topeka hospice house. He was born March 8, 1919, in Topeka, the son of Charles Herman and Nellie Lynde Parret. Charles Parrett died before Cecil was born. Nellie married Clay Bacon and together they raised Cecil. He graduated from Topeka High School in 1938. Mr. Parrett worked for Santa Fe Railroad for over 40 years retiring in 1981. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army in Europe. He was a member of Oakland United Methodist Church and the Railroad Retirees Association. On Aug. 29, 1941, he married Alma Marlene McClenny in Topeka, Kan. She survives. Other survivors include a daughter, Celia, and her husband, Tom Reed, Colorado; and twin sons: Larry Parrett and his wife, Karen, Texas, and Gary Parrett and his wife, Carol, Topeka; 11 grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; and step-sister, Lois Herde, Topeka. Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday at Oakland United Methodist Church, 801 N.E. Chester Ave., with Rev. Tony Hazen officiating. Burial will be in West Lawn Memorial Gardens. Mr. Parrett will lie in state at Parker-Price Mortuary after 2 p.m. Thursday, where the family will receive friends from 7 to 8 p.m. at the mortuary, 245 N.W. Independence Ave. Memorial contributions may be made to Oakland United Methodist Church; or to Midland Hospice Care, 200 S.W. Frazier Circle, Topeka, 66606-2800.