Hood County’s Patsy Parr performs countless acts of kindness

By Roger Enlow Hoopla Correspondent

Patsy Parr doesn’t know the word quit.

She’s overcome four separate cancers to continue making a difference in the lives of Granbury area residents.

“She’s been knocked down so many times, but she’s pulled herself up by the bootstraps and goes on,” said friend Dana Ruth McCoy.

When Patsy was office manager at Tri-County Electric she learned that many people couldn’t pay their electricity because of cancer or another serious illness. Most of their income went for the medical bills. She led the effort to form Hood County Cancer Services to ease the financial burden on cancer patients. The organization is in its 27th year.

Patsy’s latest act of kindness involves a single mother with a teenage son. The young woman, a lifelong Hood Countian, has colon cancer and needs surgery. She works at a tanning salon; income is limited. Patsy was planning a gospel show and bake sale to help raise money for the mother. She will make her famous peach cobbler for the bake sale. What’s her secret? “I don’t know … I use canned peaches,” she said with a smile. Adds husband Carl, “She makes the best in the county.”

It’s common for Patsy to scramble to the kitchen and whip up a delicious meal to take to people coming home from the hospital. Her friend Dana was home recovering from surgery when she heard a knock on the door. It was Patsy and Carl with armloads of comfort food for their friend. “It made me cry,” Dana said. “I didn’t know anybody knew about this.”

Pasty’s been a Blue Bird sponsor for girls, and for years she and other moms operated the concession stand at the Hood County Junior Livestock

Show. She organizes garage sales for people in need.

Pasty was born in Douglas, Arizona. Her father was a cotton farmer. Her parents divorced and Patsy moved to Texas, graduating from Whitewright High School.

She attended North Texas State University and wanted to be a teacher, but college was put on hold when she married and started a family. After her marriage ended in divorce, Patsy was left with two girls to raise. She decided to go back to college while working three jobs. Then a near-tragedy happened when her 3-year-old fell out of a grocery cart and suffered a fractured skull. Patsy prayed like never before. In another year she would have had a certificate to become a court reporter, but vowed to quit college and be with her girls if

God spared her daughter’s life.

Her daughter survived, and Patsy made her promise by dropping out of college.

She met Carl, married and moved with him to Saint Jo to be closer to his ailing parents. It didn’t take long for Patsy and Carl to dive into community projects. They noticed the town didn’t do much for Christmas, so they raised money to buy a Christmas tree for downtown. They got others on board and called their little group The Spirit of Saint Jo. It eventually became the chamber of commerce.

She worked at a bank in Saint Jo and then taught kindergarten and was the high school cheerleader sponsor. No money was in the budget for cheerleader uniforms, so Patsy naturally rolled up her sleeves and went to work raising money for new ones. The school also didn’t budget for cheerleading school, so Patsy reached out to the sponsor in Granbury and asked if her cheerleaders could teach Patsy’s cheerleaders. The Granbury sponsor said absolutely, so Patsy gathered up her squad and drove them to Granbury for their own cheer camp.

When Carl would catch wind of another project, he would ask Patsy, “What did you sign us up for now?”

Hood County is fortunate to have selfless people like Patsy.

“She is a very strong Christian with such a loving heart,” Dana said. “When she hears someone down on their luck she reaches out to the community for help. That’s what God wants us to do. Help one another. She would do anything for anybody.”

Patsy explains, “I’ve done it all my life. If somebody’s in worse shape than I am, I need to help them.”