[H]earts went out to Marselis Parsons’ family on Wednesday when Channel 3 News announced that the veteran news anchor had lost his battle with skin cancer.
Parsons, who was 70, had retired from his job as anchor of the evening news on WCAX in 2009, but his daily reports had been a household staple for many Vermonters.
Members of the public, journalists, state leaders and friends offered their condolences to the family Wednesday, including his wife, Julie Parsons; his daughter and son-in-law, Susan and Willy; and his baby granddaughter, Pippa.
He had received treatment for several months, before he died on Wednesday morning at a hospice care facility in Williston.
Parsons joined WCAX as a reporter in 1967 and moved up to evening news anchor and news director in 1984. He joined the Lake Champlain Yacht Club as a power boater in 1977 and skippered a collection of antique wooden boats.
“He would always ask fair questions, but probably the ones the public wanted to ask,” said WCAX News Director Anson Tebbetts, who worked for Parsons before succeeding him. “He wanted to know probably what the public wanted to know, and he approached the job that way.”
Tebbetts started as a news reporter when Parsons was the anchor. Tebbetts said he and other young journalists would put their pieces together in hopes that Parsons would give a grin, a nod, or a wink at the end to indicate he liked the story.
“He would read the news, and then your piece would play, and you would always hope he liked the piece,” Tebbetts said. “Everyone had tremendous love and respect for him.”
Curiosity, integrity, honesty, toughness and fairness were some of Parsons’ greatest qualities, he said.
Kristin Carlson worked as a news reporter for WCAX for 14 years before moving to Green Mountain Power, where she works now. Carlson said Parsons changed with the times during his four decades on the air, but he still used a typewriter.
“Pretty much, right up to the end, he had a computer, but he would use a typewriter,” Carlson said. “He loved using the typewriter. He used it for writing messages or for doing reviews.”
Carlson said he was a tremendous mentor for young journalists. She could tell if he liked her story in the way he said, “Thank you very much,” on the air. “There was a way that he said the word ‘very’ that let you know you did a good job.”
She said he kept a sparkle in his eye right up until she saw him about two weeks ago.
Gov. Peter Shumlin called the news “a huge loss” for the state.
“He was Vermont’s Walter Cronkite, a trusted and respected news figure who helped us understand our state and the events that shaped it,” Shumlin said in a statement.
Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., referred to Parsons by his nickname “Div” in a statement he issued Wednesday praising him for “his passion for honest local journalism” that he brought to the evening news.
“He influenced the careers of countless young journalists along the way,” Welch said. “And he inspired his viewers to be engaged in the Vermont tradition of civil debate and civic responsibility.”
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said: “Div Parsons defined the role of anchor in our state as television news grew, matured and adapted over the last several decades. He is a friend and for years has been the face of TV news in Vermont.”
“His skill and his confident voice made him a sure and steady presence in our homes as he reported on events large and small that have continued to shape our state,” Leahy said.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Parsons was “tough but fair.”
“He took his responsibility to chronicle the major issues facing Vermont and Vermonters seriously. He worked tirelessly to help Vermonters understand the world around them. … He will be missed,” Sanders said in a statement.
Parsons was born in Rye, New York, and lived in Shelburne for much of his adult life. He also inherited a second home from his father in Lyme, New Hampshire, in the Upper Valley.
When Parsons signed off from his final newscast in 2009, he thanked Vermonters for letting him be a guest in their homes for so many years.
