Obituary of Stephen Parvin

Stephen Parvin, 94, passed away on 11/19/2018 in Herndon, VA. He was born August 1924 in Wheeling, WV to Vladimir and Antonina Parfinovich who emigrated from Belarus to the United States in 1918.
 
Stephen grew up in Wheeling, WV and after graduating from Triadelphia High School in 1942, he enlisted with the Army in June 1943 and served in the 248th Engineering battalion in WWII and was honorably discharged, December 1945. Upon discharge from the military, Stephen attended the University of Buffalo, Buffalo, NY where he earned a degree of Bachelor of Science in the school of Business Administration.  He relocated to Alexandria, VA to work for The Washington Terminal company. Stephen transitioned to the Department of Navy as a civil servant and retired after 35 years of service. He fulfilled one of his lifelong dreams which was to work for the United States Government.  He was extremely proud to have served his country both in war time with the armed services and in peace time as a civil servant.
 
Stephen married Jacqueline Gasnier, from LaRoche Migennes-St. Cydroine, France, in a beautiful fall wedding at the Church of St. Mary in Alexandria, VA in September 1953. Although Stephen did not speak French and Jacqueline did not speak English at the time they met, they found a way to communicate and express their love for each other and were happily married for 65 years.  
 
Stephen was a lifelong golfer and started playing as a youth after earning enough money as a caddy at Oglebay resort golf course in Wheeling, WV to purchase his own clubs. He would hitchhike and walk 5 miles up and 5 miles down the mountain in Wheeling carrying golf bags for 36 holes a day on most weekends.  In return for his labor, he earned $.25 cents, of which $.15 was collected by his mother to help with family finances.  The remainder was spent at the movies and buying a Hershey’s chocolate bar (his favorite story about caddying). As an adult, Stephen joined several golf leagues and played almost every Thursday night at Hains Point in Washington DC.  His team won several league championships, and, over the course of his career, he recorded two holes-in-one. This was quite an achievement for any golfer.  

Stephen’s other passion was vegetable gardening and, what started as a necessity during the great depression to supply fresh vegetables to his family in Wheeling, WV, turned into a love for trying to grow the ripest tomatoes and other vegetables every year in his backyard. Although his children performed most of the labor to maintain the garden, Stephen enjoyed pruning the plants and picking the vegetables for dinner.  This passion for gardening has sown the seed into his children who all enjoy continuing the tradition of having a garden and having their own children do the manual labor.

Stephen embraced the Catholic faith.  He attended Our Lord of Good Counsel in Vienna, VA, moving to St. Mark in Vienna, and subsequently to St. John Neumann’s in Reston. Stephen thoroughly enjoyed ushering mass at St. John Neumann’s Catholic Church, Reston, VA on a regular basis.
 
Stephen is survived by his spouse, 6 children, 15 grandchildren, and 7 great grandchildren. Stephen was preceded in death by his oldest child, Karen Carle.
 
A funeral service will be held at St. John Neumann’s Catholic Church, 11900 Lawyers Rd, Reston, VA 20191 at 11 AM on Saturday, November 24th, 2018.  The family will be greeting friends and relatives before the service at 10 AM. Burial will be held the following Monday, 11 AM, November 26th, at Quantico National Cemetery located 18424 Joplin Rd, Triangle, VA 22172.
 
In lieu of flowers the family requests memorial donations be made to Flights of Honor to men and women that served in the armed forces during major conflicts to travel to see the monuments that honor their service. https://www.honorflight.org/