A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words; a Tribute to Walt Parrish
My Crazy Parkinson’s Life
This is Dedicated to Walt Parrish, RIP
I started and stopped writing this tribute about 100 times and I have deleted about 1200 words. That is a lot of effort for a person who types with one finger to flush it down the virtual toilet, but flush I did. I wanted this to be perfect, out of respect to both Walt and his wonderful wife Diane. But like life itself, you got to take the good with the bad; I am hoping for former, wish me luck.
I thought I knew Walt, but in reality, I knew very little about him. The things I knew you can count on one hand: he moved from Fresno California to Henderson, his son is the guitarist for the rock group Steel Panther, his grandson is a very good golfer who was going to go to Stanford University. (Note: After reading this at Walt’s tribute I found out he went to the Colorado School Mines, a swing and a miss), he really liked the TV show Longmire, he worked for Peerless pumps, and Diane was the boss, make that six things. What Walt and I had in common besides PD, was Peerless pumps, Walt worked for Peerless; and I had used his products many times in my career. So, if Walt ever wanted to talk about pump curves, I was his guy.
I also knew he was fighter;(I guess that’s seven things I knew), he would show up at the gym with his “Walt’s” re-usable grocery bag filled with his bright red UFC gloves ready to fight back. But not before walking around the room asking everybody how they were. At one time I was battling a torn ligament in my foot; the pain was beyond description. And every time Walt came to boxing, he would come directly to me to ask how I was doing, that was Walt, compassionate. (If your keeping count, that’s eight)
When I was going through all the photos that were taken for Martie’s going away video, I was struck by the photo of Walt greeting Rex at the door to the gym with a big hug. Rex had not been to boxing in quite some time due to his battle with cancer. Walt’s reaction was genuine, heartfelt, and touching, it was real and it was Walt. There were other pictures of Walt boxing and exercising, but that photo of Walt hugging Rex is really what RSB is all about.
I started writing this right after being told of Walt’s passing, that’s why I had to delete so much content, I really did not know who Walt was, I knew PD Walt; but not husband Walt, not father Walt, (not that kind of father, you know like a daddy), not grandpa Walt either. It’s very difficult to write about someone you know so little about. Yet, it is very easy to put a bunch of words together that have no meaning. I knew Walt well enough to know that what I was about write, would mean a lot to those he had left behind.
Between typing and deleting I caught a break, I was asked to put together a video for Walt’s memorial service using photos supplied by Diane, I hit the motherload, I could now see who Walt was, and why he is so beloved.
What did I see in those pictures; I saw memories of a life lived well; I saw Walt and a grandchild at the beach; a simple moment of beauty only a camera can capture. I saw Walt’s love of life and family and of course his dog. I saw a marriage between two people in love; not two people that love each other, but in love with each other, there is a huge difference. I saw a sense humor that I had not seen, it made me laugh seeing Walt in all those Halloween costumes, turns out I’m the stiff. And of course, there’s that smile, what a beautiful smile. I saw him dapper in a tux, and wet in a trash bag, I saw him as a young bright eyed Cub Scout, I saw Walt’s senior picture from high school. And I even saw the Walt I knew, fighting back against Parkinson’s. I saw what I needed to see; I became inspired to write something befitting Walt’s memorial, and I hope I seceded, Godspeed Walt, the world was a better place with you in it.