Dr. William Earl "Bill" Parrish

Dr. William E. Parrish was born April 7, 1931 in Garden City, Kansas to Earl Milton and Anna Maye (Stoker) Parrish, and passed away on October 25, 2026 in York, PA.

He was an Eagle Scout and a graduate of the Garden City Public Schools. He graduated from Kansas State University and he received his Ph. D. from the University of Missouri in 1955. He taught at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, from 1955 to 1978, holding the Harry S Truman Chair of American History and serving as Dean of the College from 1973 to 1975. He received the 1st and 6th annual Parents Association Awards as Professor of the Year by vote of the Westminster Student Body in 1972 and 1977. His former students established a named scholarship in his honor at Westminster in 2001. That same year the college awarded him the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters. He served as Chairman of the Missouri American Revolution Bicentennial Commission from 1974 to 1977 and was a member of the Missouri Advisory Council on Historic Preservation from 1967 to 1978. He was a founding member of the Kingdom of Callaway Historical Society and served as its President 1966-68. In 2019 Westminster made him a Churchill Fellow of the National Churchill Memorial. In 2025 the College named its Library Archives in his honor.

In 1978 Parrish became Head of the History Department at Mississippi State University. in 1978, serving until 1985, and retired as Professor of History1996. He served as Aspinall Professor of History at Mesa State College, Grand Junction, Colorado, in spring 2000. He served as National President of Phi Alpha Theta, the history honor society, 1985-87, and as President of the Mississippi Historical Society, 1995-96. Upon his retirement, Phi Alpha Theta established a graduate scholarship award in his honor. The Association of College Honor Societies honored him with a Certificate of Distinction in 2000. He was also honored by the Mississippi State chapter of Phi Alpha Theta in 2000 when it named its annual Outstanding Professor and Outstanding Graduate Student Awards for him. He served as an active adviser to the local chapter of the Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta while also serving as Historian to the national fraternity from 1989 to 2018. He was named Outstanding Fraternity Adviser at Mississippi State by the Interfraternity Council in 1986, 1990, and 1996, and he received the Distinguished Fiji Service Award from the national Fraternity in 2018. The author of ten books and numerous articles, he also served as the General Editor of the six volumes Sesquicentennial History of Missouri, published by the University of Missouri Press. He received the Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History in 1974 for his research and publication in the field of Missouri Civil War-Reconstruction history and a Proclamation from Missouri Governor Joseph P. Teasdale in 1978 honoring his quarter century of service in teaching, writing, and preserving Missouri=s historic heritage. The State Historical Society of Missouri honored his fifty years of writing and preserving Missouri history with its Distinguished Service Award in 2006.

Parrish was a member of the Starkville Rotary Club and a Paul Harris Fellow. He served as an elder and Sunday School teacher at Trinity Presbyterian Church, where he also sang in the choir for many years. He was married in 1972 to HelenSue Lewis Stoppel, who survives him. He is also survived by one daughter E. Ann Ross of Red Lion, PA and husband Terry, one son William L. Stoppel and wife Shannon, five grandchildren, six great grandchildren and one great great grandchild. Memorials may be made to the William E. Parrish Scholarship at Westminster College, 501 Westminster Ave, Fulton, MO 66251 or to the Trinity Presbyterian Church, 607 Hospital Rd, Starkville, MS 39759.