A procession of mourners walked in silence to the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house, where they gathered to pay their respects to senior nursing student Chris Parsons, who died Sunday, Jan. 17.
Over 100 people congregated in the small SAE living room to celebrate the life of the 22-year-old, who was described as loving and hilarious by his fraternity brothers who held the memorial service in his honor.
White candles were passed around to those who were in attendance including SAE brothers, sorority sisters, brothers from other fraternities on campus and friends. Parson’s funeral was held on Friday in Ellisville, Missouri, not far from St. Louis, where he was born.
Parsons greatly impacted MU when he dedicated his efforts in 2012 to refound the SAE fraternity on campus.
“They went into the unknown, coming together and trying to establish a colony in a Mizzou Greek system that is very established,” a fraternity brother said. “To come together and to have the bravery to do that is amazing.”
Parsons was also devoted to his work as a nursing student, which he did passionately and tirelessly, his fraternity brothers said.
“I remember the night he got accepted into the nursing program,” another fraternity brother said at the vigil. “A lot of guys in the house, we remember Chris was just ecstatic and he was walking around up stairs, he was ripping his shirt off and he was telling everybody that he was the man. And frankly, there was nobody better that night than Chris Parsons. The nursing program really was what he wanted to do with the rest of his life.”
Parsons furthered his involvement within the program and charities, along with his efforts to continue strengthening SAE.
“He was a fighter, he had been through so much in his life, and there’s nobody in this room who could go through as much as Chris had,” SAE alum Eric Kessler said.
Kessler had a close friendship with Parsons, who helped him join the SAE brotherhood and was later his roommate.
“Every single night when he would come home, after school before he gets to studying, we would always go out onto the porch and have really long talks together,” Kessler said.
Parsons’ infectious personality was described by brothers who shared anecdotes. Mourners who stood holding their candles laughed, remembering his fun-loving nature.
“I remember the first time that I had ever met with Chris,” Kessler said. “It was at The Shack at the Student Center, and he thought he was so good at pool, but he wasn’t and I smoked him. That was my first memory with Chris. For those of you who know Chris, you knew that he was the most sarcastic man in the entire world.”
The 20-minute memorial concluded with a joint prayer.
“I’ve never met a person who had anything bad to say about the guy,” a fraternity brother said. “He was amazing and without a doubt, without him, a lot of us wouldn’t be standing here today in this house, with everyone here that’s out to support him and his wonderful life. Chris was a great fraternity brother, brother, son and friend to all of us.”