Robert (Bob) C. Parsons

Robert Carroll Parsons also known as Bob Parsons was a local engineer and artist. He was 68 years old and died as a result of a fall from his motorcycle.  Raised in Lubbock, Texas he graduated from Texas Tech in 1963 with an art degree in design.  He moved to the Dallas area shortly after to work for Ling Tempco Vaught Aeronautics in cockpit design.  By the early 1970’s he had his own design and manufacturing business, The Watermelon Company, which he ran for over 20 years.  He retired, but never stopped testing new ideas, designing new projects or more efficient methods.

Art was his passion, and designing new methods to create art.  His sculptural pieces were carried by galleries in Dallas in the 1970’s and he had a piece in a show at the Dallas Museum of Fine Art.  He created pieces from fine cast silver jewelry to bigger than life-sized skeletal pieces with a sense of humor.

His lifelong hobby was working on automobiles, especially Volkswagon bugs and vans.  He started by working on Model T’s before he was in high school He loved to travel, going to Europe several times as a young man, panning for gold in the Amazon wilderness of Peru, starting a tourist airline to Belize, and later, traveling all over the US and Mexico in his modified VW Vanagon.

Bob loved this Earth and was its conscientious steward.  He lived in his own earth sheltered home, planted trees, used solar and wind power and tweaked his vehicles to get the most from  a gallon of gas.  Reducing global warming was his latest passion. Per his wishes, Bob was cremated.  A memorial service was held at his home at Whitehawk on Saturday October 13 at 4:00 p.m.

Examples of Bob Parsons Art