Clayton Reed Parsons | Passages

November 22, 1946 – December 23, 2025

Clayton Reed Parsons, known to most simply as Clay, passed away peacefully on December 23, 2025, at PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham, Washington, surrounded by family. He was 79 years old.

Clay was born on November 22, 1946, in Salem, Massachusetts, to Philip C. and Edna R. Parsons. Two years later, the family moved to North Beverly, where Clay and his younger brother, Edward, spent their childhood exploring the woods, lakes, and coastline of New England. Known around the neighborhood as “Skip,” he loved fishing, swimming, Boy Scout adventures, and summers at the family cabin on Province Lake in New Hampshire. His lifelong appreciation for landscapes, natural places, and the outdoors grew from those formative boyhood experiences.

That love of the outdoors eventually led him to pursue studies in forestry and landscape architecture. As a young man, he attended Essex Agricultural and Technical Institute, where he studied forestry, before earning a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree from the State University of New York College of Forestry at Syracuse University in 1968.

During the Vietnam War, Clay served in the United States Army. Through persistence and determination, he eventually secured a transfer to the Army Corps of Engineers, where he was able to put his education and talents in design and planning to work on engineering projects, spending much of his remaining service time in South Korea.

Following his military service, Clay settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he met Karen Helms, a fellow landscape architect. Living next door to one another, they first became acquainted at a showing of the documentary film Nanook of the North. Their friendship soon grew into a lifelong partnership, and they were married in Provincetown, Massachusetts, in 1972. Together they shared a love of travel, exploring Europe and South America before embarking on more than fifty years of marriage filled with new careers, adventures, and communities across the country.

In 1973, Clay and Karen moved to Berkeley, California. Like many in Berkeley during that era, Clay became involved in the anti-Vietnam War movement, participating in demonstrations and protests that remained an important part of his life story. Professionally, he worked with renowned landscape architect Lawrence Halprin and Associates, contributing to major planning and urban design projects, including Seattle Freeway Park and the Charlottesville Downtown Mall. During this period, he also worked on landscape architecture and planning projects overseas, including assignments in Egypt and Yemen. Over the course of his career, he created and managed his own consulting practice which he named Parsons Associates, worked on projects for governments in the Middle East and elsewhere, and served as a design planning consultant to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). His work ranged from urban parks and public facilities to residential and community planning projects.

Throughout his career, Clay remained committed to lifelong learning. Clay earned a master’s degree in urban planning and design from the University of California, Berkeley. Later, drawing upon both his professional experience and his own successful career transitions, he earned a second graduate degree in career development and counseling psychology from John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, California. In 1995, he founded Alternative Futures, a career counseling practice dedicated to helping individuals navigate midlife career transitions and pursue new paths that better reflected their interests, values, and aspirations.

While building fulfilling careers, Clay and Karen also raised two children, Elliott and Emily. Clay was a devoted and caring father who delighted in sharing his appreciation for nature, landscapes, and the outdoors with his family. Many of the family’s happiest memories were made on summer camping trips in California and the Sierra Nevada mountains, where they spent time fishing, hiking, and exploring nature together. Clay also served as a Scoutmaster during Elliott’s years in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, sharing lessons about nature, responsibility, and adventure that left a lasting impression on both of his children. Those experiences helped foster in Elliott and Emily the same appreciation for the natural world that had shaped Clay’s own childhood.

In 2006, Clay and Karen retired to Deer Harbor on Orcas Island, Washington, fulfilling a longtime dream of living in a place they had fallen in love with during earlier visits to the Pacific Northwest. They quickly became active members of the community, with Clay serving as president of the Cayou Valley Homeowners Association and helping with projects that benefited both the neighborhood and the Deer Harbor Community Club.

He was also an active member of the Orcas Island Yacht Club and embraced life on the water. Alongside Karen, he spent countless days exploring the San Juan Islands and the coast of British Columbia aboard their boats, Sea Raven and later Rip Tide. Crabbing season was among his favorite times of year, and he delighted in setting traps, hauling up Dungeness crab, and spending time on the water crabbing and fishing with close friends before sharing the catch with family and friends. In later years, he also took up shrimping, adding another favorite tradition to his many adventures on the water.

In retirement, Clay devoted himself to yet another passion: landscape painting. He and Karen built a studio beside their home overlooking Deer Harbor, a space that would later become the center of his artistic pursuits. Inspired in part by his mother, an accomplished landscape painter, Clay took art classes and developed his talent for landscape painting. Working from the studio, he created dozens of beautiful paintings, many depicting the Hawaiian Islands, the California coast, and the dramatic volcanic eruptions that fascinated him. His artwork hangs in the homes of family and friends and remains one of his enduring legacies.

Friends and family remember Clay as kind, generous, thoughtful, and a gifted storyteller. He had a talent for making people feel welcome, for finding humor in everyday life, and for sharing stories that connected people to one another. Whether on the water, in the studio, or gathered around a dinner table, he found joy in community, conversation, and adventure.

Clay is survived by his beloved wife, Karen Parsons; his son, Dr. Elliott Parsons of Hawaiʻi; his daughter, Emily Parsons of California; his brother, Edward Parsons; and many extended family members and friends whose lives were enriched by his friendship, guidance, and generosity.

A Celebration of Life will be held at the Deer Harbor Community Club in late July, 2026. Friends and family are welcome to attend.

When discussing his own memorial, Clay made one request: “Grieving and sadness is not an option. I want everyone to have a good time.” In that spirit, family and friends are invited to gather, share stories, celebrate his life, and remember the many adventures, friendships, and memories he leaves behind.