Roll Call Tribute

William "Bill" Patrick Parkey
September 30, 1974 - November 17, 2022

In the early morning on November 17, 2022 William Patrick (Bill) Parkey of Matagorda, Texas passed from this earth at the all too early age of 48.

Bill was born to Gary and Patsy Parkey in Decatur, Alabama on September 30, 1974. They moved to Bay City, Texas in 1977 and his brother Joey was born on September 26, 1977 in Clear Lake. Bill graduated from Bay City High School in 1993 and from Texas A&M in 1997.

Bill worked for Frost Bank in Austin and Corpus Christi from 1997-1999. In 1999 he went to San Diego (Ocean Beach) to crash on his college friends' couch "for the summer". During that ”8-year long summer,” he worked at Ocean Beach Surf Shop, on the fishing boat Chubasco II, and as a real estate consultant performing due diligence reviews for commercial mortgage backed securities on the west coast.

He came back to Texas in 2007 and went to work as a Motor Operated Valve tester traveling to nuclear plant outages across the country. In 2014 he went to work as an Electrician at STP in Bay City.

In 2013 he reconnected with his childhood friend, Tammi Hanna, and they fell head over heels for each other. They were married in Bay City on March 14, 2015 and bought a home in Matagorda. Bill was welcomed into the Hanna and Ellis families and was blessed by their love and acceptance of him.

Bill and Tammi had 9-1/2 wonderful years together, 7-1/2 as a married couple, and they were never happier. They enjoyed traveling and hiking and hanging out/watching the sunset together in Matagorda. Bill's only regret was that he could never keep up with Tammi on a hike.

Bill loved the mountains and the beach and all board sports (skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding, wakeboarding). He was intelligent, a hard worker, an avid reader with a heart for the underdog and the little guy. He tried to pretend that he didn't like Tammi's cats but everyone knew that wasn't true.

Bill was preceded in death by his brother Joey, his uncle Don Parkey, and his grandparents-in-law Bob and Jean Ellis. He is survived by his wife Tammi Kay, his parents Gary and Patsy, his mother and father-in-law Paul and Sheila Hanna, his brother-in-law Robert Hanna, numerous Parkey aunts, uncles, and cousins, and even more numerous Hanna and Ellis aunts, uncles, and cousins.

A celebration of Bill's life will be held at First Baptist Church in Bay City at 10:00AM on Saturday, December 3, 2022. Visitation will begin at 9AM. Interment will follow at the Matagorda Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations for a scholarship in the name of Bill Parkey ‘97 be made to the Texas A&M Foundation, and sent to 401 George Bush Drive, College Station, Texas 77840. For Online Gifts: txamfoundation.com/give; Under “Select a Unit or College”; Choose: The General Memorial.