Parnease Smith Thompson

Parnease Smith Thompson was born to the late Lester and Ella Smith on May 24, 1931. She passed from this life on Thursday, August 11, 2022. Her husband, John Hall Thompson Jr. passed on August 11, 1992; the exact same date, 30 years ago.

Parnease was the oldest girl of 14 children.  She attended Reed Street School, in Anderson, SC. She was married to the late John Hall Thompson Jr., on October 9, 1951. To that union were born 5 children: Gwenette Yvonne, Barbara Diane, Stanley Sylester, Glenda Faye, and the late Johnny Earl.  Also raised in the home was a granddaughter April Sullivan.

Parnease worked as a weaver at Orr-Lyons Textile  Plant in Anderson, SC. She loved her family as they would gather on Sundays to sit around laughing and talking, while the children were running around playing. She had a passion for planting flowers and gardens.  Every year she would plant something she could eat and something pretty she could look at.  People would also bring her all types of produce and she would get so excited. If they brought fruit she would make jelly. Now if it was pears she would get some green tomatoes to go with it and make chow chow. Whatever she made, she would share with others. She had a kind and giving heart.

She loved to travel especially by car and would look out the window at the scenery as it passed by. She often talked about her childhood, playing with her siblings and how she was a daddy’s girl. She loved outdoors, especially picking black berries, muscadines, and fishing.  She also loved cooking for anyone who would eat. She would always say something was not quite right with it, which was not true.  She loved her grandchildren and let them get away with most things, but a spanking was not ever off the table.  Her door was always open and even in her older years her doorbell and the phone did not stop ringing.

Parnease Thompson leaves behind to cherish fond memories to her children, Yvonne Leverette of Anderson, SC, Diane Dawson (Larry) of Starr, SC, Stanley Thompson of Anderson, SC, Faye Simmons (Mario) of Memphis, TN; one brother, Marion Smith of Iva, SC; one sister, Brenda Richardson (Leo) of Iva, SC; 21 grandchildren, many great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren; one uncle, Eugene Burriss; one aunt, Doris Hall; many cousins, nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.

Parnease was preceded in death by her husband, John Hall Thompson Jr.; parents, Lester and Ella Smith; youngest son, John Earl Thompson; seven brothers, Lester, Wallace, Howard, Alvin, Clarence, Robert “Bobby”, and Ernest Oneal Smith; four sisters, Etrulia Skelton, Beatrice Paul, Helen Martin, Ella Mattison; and three grandsons, Demetrius Epps, Harry Allen, and Wally Dawson.

The funeral service will be held at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, August 14, 2022 at Mt. Ararat Baptist Church.  The interment will follow in the church cemetery.  Public viewing will be held on Saturday from 1:00 until 6:00 p.m. at the funeral home.

The family is at the home, 204 Warwick Street, Anderson, SC 29621.

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