Robert “Keith” Parrish July 27, 1954 ~ June 6, 2024 (age 69)

Funeral services for Robert “Keith” Parrish, 69, of Portales, will be held at 3:00 PM, Thurs., June 13, 2024 in the Wheeler Mortuary Chapel.  Visitation will be until 8:00 PM that evening.

Robert “Keith” Parrish was born July 27, 1954, in Kermit, TX to the home of Fay Ruth (Sims) and Robert Harlan Parrish, and died June 6, 2024 in Portales, NM.  Keith, as he was commonly known, grew up in Kermit and later in Jal, NM where he graduated from high school in 1972.  While he was in school, he played football and basketball, and ran on the track team.

Following his graduation, he moved to Portales to attend Eastern New Mexico University.  He began driving a delivery truck for his future father-in-law, Bob Strong, who owned Bob Strong Oil Company in Portales.  In the early 1980’s he and his brother, Jim, purchased Chaparral Irrigation from Noble Sikes, and continued to sell and install irrigation systems throughout the area for approximately ten years.

In the early 1990’s, Keith completed his degree in Education, and began teaching Kindergarten and Special Education classes in the Portales schools.  After thirteen years in that role, he transferred to the Junior High School to teach Math and History in addition to coaching the football and track teams.  In 2017, Keith retired from the Portales Schools, and began a new career teaching Math Intervention classes at Gattis Junior High School.  For the past two years, he taught at Marshall Junior High.

On June 26, 1982, he was married to Susan Strong.  Together, they had three sons before later divorcing.  Keith loved horses and doing leather work.  He also had dabbled in various forms of art.

He is survived by Susan (Strong) Lutrick, his former wife and the mother of his children; his sons, Ryan “Cole” Parrish, Robert “Chris” Parrish and Jonathan “Kyle” Parrish and his companion Kristy Collins all of Portales; eight grandchildren, Alexis, Isaiah, Kianna, Kaden, Jodanyl, Thomas, Miles and Hunter and Kaislyn who will be born the end of June; also one great-grandchild, Esteban Gomez and Aryiah Parrish who will be born also at the end of June; a brother and sister-in-law, Kenneth and Linda Parrish of Bryan, TX and a sister-in-law, Brenda (Mrs. Jim) Parrish of Portales.  He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Jimmy Parrish.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Robert “Keith” Parrish, please visit our floral store.