26-year-old Algonquin crash victim was 'genuine'
Just days before Heather Parman died, the 26-year-old from Algonquin posted a Bible verse on her Facebook page: “Don't just pretend to love others, really love them.”
Friends and family say that's exactly how Parman lived her life.
“It is remarkable to find someone who just loves people,” said Laura Parman, Heather Parman's mother. “That is a tremendous comfort.”
Parman was killed while driving home from work at Starbucks in Oswego on Tuesday. A fatigued driver crossed the center line.
Friends said Parman was always the life of the party, someone that people were drawn to and wanted to be around. Parman lit up the room with her joy and enthusiams, they said.
“She really was the most genuine person you could meet,” said Kelsey Koslowski, Parman's best friend. “People just fell in love with her and she loved everyone, no matter who you were. Like I said the day she died, the color went out of my world. She was the color of my world.”
Koslowski and Parman worked together for seven years at Youth With a Mission, a missionary group based in Long Island, N.Y. It was there that the 2003 Dundee-Crown High School graduate found her passion, and future fiance, Tim Roberts.
Parman's younger brother, Grant, said his sister thrived as the art director for All Access Productions, the performing arts company at Youth With a Mission. The company toured all over the United States, performing anti-bullying productions for more than 40,000 high school students.
“That's the point where she really started to live her life,” Grant Parman said. “YWAM set the pace for who she was and is.”
He said his sister's greatest strength was the inability to judge people.
“It didn't matter who you were. If you were sitting on train next to her, she would start a conversation,” Grant Parman said. “No matter how scary or how different the person looked, she would talk to them. She had such a huge heart.”
Visitation for Parman is set from 3 until the time of funeral service at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 18, at the Chapel at Willow Creek Community Church, 67 E. Algonquin Road, South Barrington. Burial will take place at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 19, in Evergreen Cemetery in Barrington.
In lieu of flowers, memorials can be given to the True North Community Church, PO Box 469, Bohemia, New York, 11716.