Family, community members mourn passing of CEO Rob Parkhurst

Family and friends will share memories and one more motorcycle ride Sunday to honor Rob Parkhurst, chief executive officer of Parkhurst Manufacturing Company Inc., who died Tuesday.

Parkhurst’s sister, Melinda Moore, said: “Rob was an extraordinary person. He was loved by so many, we want to give him a really good sendoff. ... We want to pay homage to him in style.”

A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at Broadway Presbyterian Church, with the Rev. Alex Wales officiating. The service will include testimonials about Parkhurst, 46, and his impact on friends, family and the Sedalia community. Moore said those “who know him, who loved him ... are wearing blue” for the service.

“It was the color of his eyes,” she said.

Burial will be in Crown Hill Cemetery. Rick Yeager, owner of Yeager’s Cycle Sales and a longtime friend of Parkhurst, is organizing a motorcycle procession from the church to the cemetery. Yeager has reached out to members of the Central Missouri Harley Owners Group and the Sedalia Motorcycle Association, of which Parkhurst was president.

“We’re going to put some people on motorcycles and see him off right,” Yeager said. “He was well-liked in the motorcycle community and was active in it for a lot of years of his life.”

Yeager said those who want to participate in the ride should gather outside the church after the memorial service.

Moore stressed that Parkhurst was a big supporter of organ donation.

“We had a niece who died, but she had a heart transplant, so we had her for four more years than we would have” without a donor organ, Moore said.

Parkhurst was a 1984 graduate of Smith-Cotton High School, a 1987 graduate of State Fair Community College and a 1989 graduate of Central Missouri State University. He is survived by his wife, Paula; five children, Bailey, Katy, Jack, Madelyn and Morgan Parkhurst; and three sisters: Moore, Maria Dirck and Marcy Parkhurst.

The family suggests memorial contributions be made to the Rob Parkhurst Foundation, an organization being developed to benefit underprivileged children. Moore said donations can be sent to Heckart Funeral Home, which is handling the arrangements.

Moore said her brother was “a devoted father and husband. He was the best brother anybody could ever have. ... I never met a person who didn’t love him.”

Yeager said: “It’s just not going to be the same. He’ll be missed; he had a wide range of friends in this community.

“God took him too quick.”