Parsons Family,

Aarons text this morning hit me extremely hard. I can’t imagine what all of you are going through. My emotions are all over the place. I have been crying off and on all day and am just trying my best to hold it together. TP and I were very close and he was a great human. I will remember him for all the positives that he was. He cared about his family, friends and others more than himself and am proud to have known him. I only wish I could have helped more. I’m very sorry for your loss.

Very sad to hear of TP’s passing. I will cherish all the memories we had battling on the Edison court. I am very sorry for your loss Parson family, RIP Tory!

I was so sorry to learn of Tory’s passing. I had the pleasure of working with him at Avenu Insights & Analytics. He always made me smile! He was one of the kindest human beings I had ever met. My arms are wrapped around the Parsons family in a huge hug loaded with prayers to deal with this tragic loss. Tory will forever be missed.

I am so sorry to hear of Tory’s passing. I worked with him at Avenu and remembered how friendly he was to me and very sweet. I will keep Tory and his family in my prayers.

I am in absolute disbelief hearing of Tory’s passing. My heart goes out to you Dawn, Doug and Aaron. I wish I could be with you right now to give you support and love. I spent the day yesterday in tears thinking about all the memories I have of watching Tory play b-ball all those yrs and what a great athlete and individual he was. I just want you to know I care and am sending hugs your way.

While it has been many years since I’ve seen Tory, this news stopped me in my tracks and took my breath away. Sending the utmost love and light to Dawn, Doug, and Aaron. Tory and I dated during college. We were inseparable then. We loved playing cribbage, driving around in the “cellie” or Toyota celica singing along to R&B duets. We liked to drive thru neighborhoods with big houses and pick out our favorite ones. We loved getting pad Thai. We took classes together at Stout. Tory was a sincere, kind and loved with so much intensity. Tory, I wish you all the peace in the world and will always keep the good times in my heart. With Much Love, charmel

TP.. Tree.. at a lost for words.. didnt matter we didn’t keep in touch all that much..whenever we saw each other it was like old days.. you will be missed .. man!!

Just found out today. So so sorry for your loss. “TP” was my roommate in college, attended my wedding and was such a great guy. We did not keep in touch once we got out of college, but we had lots of good times and memories, and he will be missed. I will miss his unmistakable smile, laugh and big arm hugs! My sincerest condolences from both me and my wife Choomsri, who knew and cherished him as well.

TP! You’ll be missed buddy. Was just reminiscing with Bradley tonight about the last boys trip. Can’t believe you’re gone. I’ll always remember those grizzly bear hugs and all the kind words. Rest easy brother.

TP my old friend. I still remember playing 2 on 2 with Doug and Aaron on Saturdays @ northwest. The ridiculous stereo you had in the celly. The times we had together I will cherish forever. I am so sorry that this world took you away so soon. I am so sorry I was not there for you when you reached out. I hope someday we meet again my friend. God bless you and your family.

I met Tory on the basketball team at Stout. Stayed friends throughout college and attended his wedding. Played alot of video games and had 1 on 1 basketball battles with him and spent time with each others families. A story that best describes the person he was involves him including me with the entire wedding party and all his wedding events, even though I wasn’t part of the official court. He thought sincerely about others always first, and was a genuine person. TP you will be missed by all. Dawn, Doug, and Aaron my deepest condolences.

To say that I was shocked when Russ Lis contacted me yesterday morning, and conveyed to me this horrible news, would be a grave understatement. It’s difficult for me to articulate how saddened I am at the loss of our dear friend Tory.

The pain accompanying the loss is compounded by the fact that this tragedy happened three months ago, and we had no idea.

“Jasper”, as his friends called him was a very special individual.

He was quick whited, he was a very kind person, he was well-liked by all who knew him, and to me a great friend for almost 20 years.

I met Tory in the Fall of 2001 at the University of Wisconsin-Stout – Russ Lis, Lee Sunsdahl, along with myself and Tory had a very special bond centered around Sports and enjoying life. As I look back, those years in Menomonie are still some of the best times of my life.

Inherently, when we go our separation directions after college, and we branch out into our respective professions, it seems we lose touch with the people we grew up around and aligned with at different times in our lives. This however was not the case with Tory.

Obviously, there are numerous variables and intricacies associated with everyone’s journey along this road of life. This being said, as I learned yesterday during an extended phone conversation with Shauna, detailing the last 5-6 years of Tory’s struggles I was floored.

Our dear friend was very sick, and I wish I could have done something to help. I had no idea what he was up against.

Speaking with our friends yesterday evening, and discussing what Tory meant to each of us, we have decided to facilitate a Celebration of Tory’s life this summer – as to remember this great person and allow his friends to say good bye to him.

Jasper, you were a great person, and a dear friend – I’ll see you on the other side TP.

I miss you buddy.

I found out about Tory’s death almost three full months later, on March 24, 2021. As I sit here and type out my thoughts on March 25 I am upset, frustrated, and extremely saddened. How can one of his best friends find out this much later and find out in this manner?

I hope as time passes and the grieving process continues, I won’t continue to be so mad. I wasn’t upset about this yesterday. I was in shock. Today I am. I hope tomorrow will be better. I suspect many of Tory’s friends, former co-workers, and others do not know either. Tory should be celebrated for the person he was. I want it to be known I am not upset at one group or individual for not letting me know. I am just upset.

We sent probably fifty text messages to each other around Christmas time, which we always did around the holidays and other important events. He told me he was going to visit his parents but when he got back, we should get together as it’s been a long time. I’m happy that I was able to tell him I loved him and looked forward to getting together after the holidays.

January, February and March flew by and I had forgotten to text Tory after the holidays. In retrospect, Tory would not have forgotten to text me and set up a date and time. This was the type of person he was. I assumed he was busy and forgot to text me a reminder as well.

I texted Tory a week ago on March 17 to tell him we should get together soon as we never re-connected after the holidays. A week passed since my text and yesterday morning I woke up at 3:30am and immediately thought I never received a reply from Tory, which never happened, ever, in the past. He always replied to me. He always took my phone call. For whatever strange reason I had a sick feeling in my stomach and googled his name, to find this Obituary on this website. Yesterday was a horrible, horrible, horrible day.

I wanted to think about things for a day before I posted anything because my thoughts were all over the place yesterday.

By no means can I articulate my feelings about Tory in this post. Our group of friends were attached by the hip everywhere we went during college. So many awesome memories and laughs. Yesterday I spent all day looking through old photos. I had many thoughts but there were two things I kept thinking of. (1) I wish we had more pictures. (2) And, it’s probably a good thing smart phones and social media didn’t exist back then! We all liked to have a lot of fun. Maybe a tad too much at times…but I wouldn’t have changed anything!

As many people graduate either high school or college, they lose touch with friends over the years. Not with Tory. We didn’t get together in person as much. But we always texted every month or two, catch up on life and have a great conversation. The last time I saw him in person was two years ago. We had a lot of fun even though we were celebrating a good friends fathers celebration of life. I remember I showed up to pick him up in a sport coat and jeans. He looked at me and said, “I’m wearing a full suit. This family was like my family.”

Tory “TP” was such an amazing person. He deserves to be recognized by his friends and all that new him.

His laugh, huge hugs, voice that would fill a room, and unfortunately his strong allegiance to the Minnesota Vikings, yuck, made us all love him. Tory and I had a longstanding bet that started in college whenever the Packers and Vikings played each other. Whoever lost would have to pick up the tab at the restaurant. We eventually lost track of who owed who but it didn’t matter. It was the spirit of the bet and the fun of talking smack to each other. And most importantly, it was a guaranteed way for he and I to get together and re-connect. That’s really why the bet was important. It made us get together and schedule a time to hang out.

I will never forget the time the Vikings lost to the Cardinals when they threw up a prayer at the end of the game and bounced the Vikings from the playoffs. The Packers made the playoffs because of that. Tory wouldn’t take my phone call on his cell. He knew I was calling him to rub it in. So, I looked up his parents’ home phone number and pretended to be someone else, he answered, and I then I rubbed it in. He called me a few expletive words and we laughed about that story for years to come. Then we made plans to cut Christmas break short and got together back in Menomonie.

In college we frequented a bar where we played pool, darts and mingled with the locals. It was a place where the ceilings were low and people were smoking heaters left and right. Remember those places where there was so much smoke you could see it floating in the air like fog. Yup, that was our kind of place. This was the “peanut bar” in Menomonie. Free peanuts and you threw them on the floor. To this date we were the only people that had our own peanut bowls. On Friday nights or other busier days, they would run out of bowls so we brought our own in and labeled them, “Big Nuts Tory” and “Big Nuts Russ”. Several years later Tory called me when he was attending UW-Stout’s homecoming weekend and he told me, “They still have our bowls!!!”.

Visits to the horse track in Shakopee, smack talk between the Packers and Vikings, sharing stories, creating new ones, and Tory’s positivity is what I will remember about him. Whenever I was having a hard time with something, I could send him a text and he would tell a funny story or give words of encouragement is what I will remember about him.

Lots of people struggle with things. Tory never once told me about his struggles. I suspected at times he needed help. I never confronted him on it. I wish I would have. I was always afraid if I did, he would shut me out and lose that friendship. What a fool I was. I will never make that mistake again.

I’m fortunate that the last time we hung out we had a great time. Grilling steaks, reminiscing about the past, and catching up on life. That evening the Brewers lost in game 7 and did not advance to the World Series. I will never forget him telling me how sorry he was for me and even though he was a Twins fan he wanted the Brewers to win for me.

I’m also very thankful to have exchanged such an awesome text thread around Christmas this year, which was unfortunately a few days before his death.

You were and still are one of the best friends in my life. I always look back to that time of my life as being one of the best. I love you buddy and will see you on the flip side.

The Parson’s family will be hosting a celebration of Tory’s life on July 17, 2021 in Bloomington, MN.

Please RSVP at the following link if you would like to come.

http://evite.me/qVGpr5F2nV

Whether you can make it or not, in lieu of flowers or donations please email us some stories, pictures, and/or videos to the following email address: TPCELEBRATION@GMAIL.com.

The Parsons’ family Celebration of Tory’s Life on July 17, 2021, has been canceled.