Billy Joe Parsons

Billy Joe Parsons passed away peacefully Christmas Eve morning at Avantara Arrowhead Rehab Center in Rapid City, S.D., where he was recovering from and receiving rehab following a major stroke that he suffered Oct. 18.
Billy Joe Parsons was born in the back of an ambulance Dec. 16, 1959, to Greer and Marcella Parsons, while enroute to Rapid City. He was the youngest of five children. 
Bill was a 1978 graduate of Custer (S.D.) High School, where he played football and basketball. Bill worked in the lumber business as a lumber grader for many years.
Bill took time off from his job to help his mother care for his father when he developed Alzheimer’s Disease. After his father’s death, Bill returned to work but continued to help his mother in many ways until her death in 2016.
Bill considered himself an amateur inventor. And last year successfully patented his first invention. Bill loved to write and wrote several articles for the Custer County Chronicle. He loved to read literary classics, and Ernest Hemingway was his favorite.
A favorite pastime of Bill’s was driving around the Custer countryside and particularly Custer State Park and the Limestone area. He knew all the back roads.  
Bill was preceded in death by his parents, Greer and Marcella Parsons; and his two brothers, David Parsons and Gary Parsons. 
He is survived by his brother, Ron Parsons of Spearfish, S.D.; his sister, Linda Davis of Fleming Island, Fla.; and many nieces and nephews who always enjoyed Uncle Bill taking them up on Buckhorn Mountain when they were little. Bill also has many cousins. All his family and friends will miss Bill very much.
Bill was a member of Southern Hills Church of Christ. There will be a graveside service  Jan. 6 at the Custer Cemetery at 11 a.m. 
Arrangements have been placed in the care of Chamberlain McColley’s Funeral Home in Custer.