Charles John Parsons

This will not be your typical eulogy. I can confirm that my father was born Charles John Parsons in Endicott New York on January 3, 1942. He was preceded in death by his parents; Herbert Raymond Parsons and Eva May Parsons (nee Pettengill) and his brother Terrance Dwight Parsons Survived by his sister-in-law Annette Johnson Irvine CA, Daughter Heather Perry and husband Eric, son David Parsons and wife Wanda. Two stepsons Robert Scranton and wife Lisa and Todd Scranton and wife Dawn. Eight Grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren. My father worked at IBM for 33 years as a developmental engineer he had many recognized processes he developed within the company and at least 1 US Patent which stayed under his name until 5 years after his retirement and then was renamed under IBM. This is where we go off and become a more nontraditional eulogy. I’m going to break this down into a way dad would understand and if anyone here understand computer software you’ll recognize how this is being done. As a software product is introduced, it is usually version 1.0 next versions become 2.0 and so on. I’m going to do this for the decades in dad’s life. Chuck 1.0 covers birth to his 20’s I wasn’t around for any of this so not much is known or confirmed, I can tell you he had one day where he rode a sled down a hill and wrapped himself around a tree and broke an ankle. A pin was installed to help the healing process and stayed there the rest of his life. Chuck wasn’t good in all his classes but truly enjoyed shop class and working with math and drafting. He also built a collection of model trains, 0 scale and 027 the collection contains many displays, engines, cars and even an old steam engine During late 1.0, dad met our mother they dated during the high school years. Dad graduated high school then went to a technical school where he excelled at Broome Technical college. Chuck 2.0: During 2.0 Chuck married his first wife Donna, bought his first home, had two children myself in 1964 and my sister in 1967. It is during Chuck 2.0 that many other expansions occurred. You’ve heard the stories and I’m here to confirm them. The first expansion began in 1969 on my birthday. Our home was a small 3 bedroom two bath house with a detached single car garage. I was unaware that during this time dad decided it was time for a second car. Our winters were legendary for the amount of snow we would get so dad decided to add on to our current set up. He was land locked to put another garage next to the one we had, so he decided to build behind and make room for car number 2 which would double as an indoor entertainment area. It worked rather well. His next adventure in expansion put his mechanical skills to the test in the mid 70’s dad knew the house was getting too small with children growing so instead of selling the starter home, he decided to expand it ten feet. A new basement was dug out and concrete poured in the fall of one year and the following year he continued his plan. On a Saturday morning guide wires were attached to the side wall of the house, a block and tackle on the other side used to pull the wall over to cover the ten feet then supporting and filling the rest of the distance. The biggest concern was a gust of wind coming along and creating the biggest kite you could imagine. The move added to the length of the living room, added a dining room and my sister’s bedroom was expanded to give her more space in her room. Chuck 3.0 was a buggy version leading to violent outbursts and other issues. We will discuss no further. We now move to Chuck 4.0; the family moved to Boynton Beach FL. Moving from a home in New York with a full basement to a home in Florida with no basement made for a cramped situation. The garage became the basement storage and paths had to be created to get to standing freezers and cabinets. Also during this time both of his children move out of the house and he and our mother divorced. Chuck 5.0 brought along more changes as any new version will. His second wife, Eleanore was introduced, he became a grandfather eight times over. Yes the kids were fruitful and multiplied. 5.0 was a bit glitchy and carried a bit of a bad attitude, but it was better than 3.0 Chuck 6.0 brought along some of the biggest changes we didn’t expect to see, everyone who knew Chuck and El, were quite surprised. We were told they had sold their home in Florida and were moving to Maryville TN. Tennessee??? Apparently, they had tired of the heat and growing population of South Florida, they wanted seasonal change again along with a quieter area. Chuck 7.0 was a growing up time. Eleanore got sick, during this time Chuck learned what true friends were and what he needed to do to keep them.

Charles John Parsons

January 3, 1942 - August 18, 2024