Sheila Crimmins Parsons

Sheila Crimmins Parsons, 91, died on Wednesday September 21st in Exeter, New Hampshire.
Mrs. Parsons was born in New York City on April 20, 1920 to Thomas Crimmins & Julia Trowbridge Crimmins. Sheila said how lucky she was to grow up in a house on 72nd street and spend her summers in Darien surrounded by her sister, brothers and many aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.
Her passing marks the end of a generation descended from John D. Crimmins born at the beginning of the last century and continuously living on Long Neck Point.
Upon graduating from the Chapin School in 1938, Sheila convinced her father to send her to the Cordon Bleu in Paris and though her experiences in the City of Lights and fleeing back to America with her friends, the Glamour Girls, as Hitler marched west, remained with her for life, it was hard to detect a French influence in her cooking.
Sheila married Orrin K. Boice in 1941. He served on the USS Columbia and was killed when the ship was attacked in 1945.
Mrs. Parsons married Thomas Parsons III on September 4, 1947, the love of her life, and soon after moved to Pear Tree Point Road where she raised her family and remained until moving to Riverwoods in Exeter, New Hampshire to be close to her children.
When Tokeneke School opened, Mrs. Parsons volunteered at the library and continued through the school years of her children. She was an avid and extremely fast reader who for an unexplained reason often read the last chapter first. She volunteered at The Darien Book Aid for many years.
Sheila could have written a book about her life. Her debutante party was held at the Waldorf Astoria, she danced at the White House and she had a social conscience that was ahead of her time.
Mrs. Parsons was a wonderful mother who touched many people. She was clever and warm in her modest way and would find these remarks excessive.
Sheila was pre-deceased by her daughter Martha and her husband Thomas Parsons III. She is survived by her five children: Thomas C. Parsons and his wife Elizabeth, of Gloucester, MA; Constance Parsons and her husband Carl of Dover, NH; Amy Parsons of South Portland, ME; Nathaniel T. Parsons and his wife Martha of Fairfax, VA; and Julia P. Gaulke and her husband Peter of Portland, ME; her nephew David Rawle and his wife Carol, her niece Judy Neilson and the Ewing and Crimmins families.
Mrs. Parsons is also survived by 11 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren who worshipped her.
In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting that donations be made to New Hampshire Public Radio, 2 Pillsbury Street, 6th Floor, Concord, NH 03301.