Theda Bara (Parrish) Berry |
| Posted 2008-03-29 by Judy Wight Branson |
| Daily Courier, Prescott, Arizona Wednesday, March 19, 2008 Theda Berry, 91, of Prescott, Ariz., died at the Good Samaritan Village on March 17, 2008, with her daughter, Julie Connor, and son Andy at her side. Born in Doniphan, Mo., and named for a famous movie actress in 1916, Theda Bara Parrish married William Ervin Berry of Granite, Okla., in 1942. After service in the Army during World War II and service with the Veterans Administration in Bonham, Texas, Theda and Bill Berry moved to Prescott in 1956 so that Bill could accept the position as Administrator of the Veteran’s Hospital at Fort Whipple. Theda was a home economics teacher at Prescott Junior High School for more than 20 years. She taught the basics of cuisine and household management to hundreds of Prescott students in those years and never tired of seeing them in the stores and markets and churches of Prescott after they moved on with their lives. Theda was one of six children of Grady Parrish and Ida Snodgrass of Altus. She attended Southwestern Teachers’ College and trained to become a teacher. While at the college, she met Bill Berry, a stalwart on the school’s football team, who decided on first sight that she would be his wife. They were active and founding members of the Willow Hills First Southern Baptist Church in Prescott and were long-time members of the Sunday school classes, Senior Adults and the Adult Choir. After retirement, Theda and Bill traveled the country in their motorhome and were proud to say they had camped in all of the 48 states of the United States. They enjoyed nothing as much as camping with friends from Prescott and visiting their grandchildren in Florida and in Phoenix. Theda was preceded in death by her husband Bill last April. She is survived by her children, Julie and her husband, Terry; Andy and his wife, Sheila; grandchildren Sarah Berry of Fort Collins, Colo., Andrea and Rebecca Berry, Kate and Keith Stalzer of Phoenix, Cormac and Anupama Connor of Chevy Chase, Md., Kristin, Etain and Brendan Connor of Miami and two great-grandchildren born to Cormac and his wife, Anupama Chaturvedi. Her great-granddaughters are Jaya and Riley Chaturvedi-Connor of Chevy Chase, Md. Theda’s sister, Anna Lee Hunt of Oklahoma City, also survives her as well as several “precious” nephews and nieces in Oklahoma. Theda wants to be remembered as a “traditional mother.” She loved teaching seventh-graders, her church and church friends, making quilts for anyone who looked a little chilly, playing bridge and 42, and traveling to see family and friends throughout the country. We’ll miss her, but the great love story that began in a little soda shop in Oklahoma will now continue as she reunites will Bill in heaven. Funeral services will be at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, March 20, 2008, at the Willow Hills First Southern Baptist Church, 1071 Mogollon Road, Prescott. Services entrusted to Hampton Funeral Home. Information provided by survivors. See Also: Find A Grave |
Note: These obituaries are transcribed as published and are submitted by volunteers who have no connection to the families. They do not write the obituaries and have no further information other than what is posted within the obituaries. We do not do personal research. For this you would have to find a volunteer who does this or hire a professional researcher.
Questions About This Project?