Frank & Bright Funeral Home

Opal Parish

Apr 29th, 1921 - Jan 31st, 2025

      Opal Parish, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and great-great- grandmother, passed peacefully in her sleep at the age of 103 on January 31, 2025. Opal was a lifelong resident of Flora, Illinois.

      Opal Marie (Bute) Parish was born on April 29, 1921, to Nina Marie (Woods) Bute and Harry Opal Bute in Flora, Il. Opal and William (Bill) Parish married on July 1,1939, and they were married for 65 years until Bill passed on Nov 9, 2004.

      Opal and Bill had 8 children together. Judith (Samuel) Burk of Lebanon, IL, Billie (deceased) (Robert) Guerrettaz of Cloverdale, IN, Robert (Bob) Parish (deceased), Nancy (Daniel) Powell of O’Fallon, IL, Sharon Byrd of Flora, IL, Richard (Rick) Parish (deceased), Preston (Marilyn) Parish of Olney, IL, and Roger (Debra, deceased) of Flora, IL.

      Opal was the grandmother to 17 grandchildren, 43 great-grandchildren, and 16 great-great- grandchildren. All of whom loved her as immensely as she did them.

      Opal was preceded in death by her siblings Dale Edward Bute, Hazel Bute, Margaret Bute Schofield, Geraldine Bute Blackwell.

      Bill and Opal were very active in the General Baptist church in their lifetimes with Bill serving on the home mission board and as the minister at McCabe General Baptist church and several other area churches over the years. Together the couple traveled on mission trips to Honduras and Jamaica helping to build churches and schools. The couple also volunteered at Union Grove Church Camp, particularly when their grandchildren attended with Bill teaching shop and Opal working in the kitchen. Opal was very proud of her strong Faith and her relationship with Jesus.

      While Opal was loved by the community and people of Flora, that pales in comparison to the love her family feels for her and the hole they feel in their hearts and their family at her absence. They are comforted to know that she blessed so many people with her love and her light and that she is now once again with her beloved husband Bill whom she has missed so much for so many years, and their three children. Ask any one of them and they will tell you without hesitation, she is the strongest person they have ever met.

      A funeral ceremony will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, February 8, 2025, at Frank & Bright Funeral Home in Flora with Mark Luzadder officiating.  Burial will follow in Elmwood Cemetery, Flora.  A visitation will be held from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Saturday at the funeral home.  Memorial donations are suggested to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital or Shriners Hospital for Children, and these will be accepted through the funeral home.  To share a condolence or memory, visit: www.frankandbright.com