Dr. Arthur Keith Parizek, DDS
Dr. Parizek passed peacefully in his home on August 14, 2019. He was preceded in death by literally billions of persons including his parents Arthur Joseph Parizek and Marion Catherine (Laschke) Parizek as well as his oldest son Steven Boyd Parizek. He is survived by his wife of 66 years Marilyn (Martin) Parizek, his daughter-in-law Julie Parizek, his three sons: Dan (Tammy), Rick (Jay), and Marty (Kathy), and his nephew Les (Melissa) Saltzman as well as a batch of grandchildren and a growing phalanx of great grandchildren.
Dr. Parizek was born in Iowa City Iowa in 1931 where he thrived as a would-be cowboy and accordionist. He later became an accomplished trumpeter who performed with the University of Iowa band and orchestra long before he attended the university as a student. He worked his way through college in a jewelry store and as a dance band leader. Upon graduating from the University of Iowa’s Dental School, he enlisted in the USAF. After a rigorous assessment of his skills, the Pentagon determined that his highest and best use was to defend the western reaches of the Agua Fria River. With a wife and two sons in tow, he reported to Luke Air Force Base in 1956 where he served in the Dental Corps until honorably discharged as a captain in late 1958.
Seemingly anxious to return home, Dr. Parizek took his young family back to Iowa where he joined a private practice in Grinnell with buddies from dental school. Having missed the dry air and clear skies of the desert and with a wife and now four sons in tow, he returned to the Phoenix area and joined a dental practice at 32nd Street and Bell Road in the summer of 1960. In 1963 he moved a mile and a half south where Dr. Parizek practiced independently until his retirement in 1999.
Dr. Parizek had a passion for astronomy that was kindled by his sixth grade science teacher, but it blazed throughout his life. He was the last surviving founder of the Phoenix Observatory Association which formed to promote amateur astronomy and to support astronomy as a part of the science curricula in high schools in Arizona. He served many terms as president and many terms as treasurer of the association over the years. He hosted the first of the Amos Hoff Commemorative Lecture Series for which he brought Clyde Tombaugh, the discoverer of Pluto, as the first speaker. Over the years, he designed and constructed four observatories for his personal use and helped his friends and many schools to obtain observatories and telescopes for their own use. Once, during a tour of his impressive Alpine area observatories, a scientist asked his son how one could assemble such structures to house his collection of telescopes. His son’s answer was: “Just like the pharaohs built the great pyramids… with the liberal use of slave labor.” Dr. Parizek also found time for golf and fly fishing.
Known to his grandchildren and great grandchildren as “Pa,” and for leading the singing of Christmas carols and the impromptu kazoo band every Christmas Eve, he will be missed. A celebration of his life will be held at the Community Church at 25603 Danny Lane in Rio Verde, Arizona at 11:00 am on Saturday, November 23, 2019. Shunning his desire for a Viking-style burial at the fish pond at Road Runner Park, his remains will be entombed in a niche at the church. A reception at his home at 18433 Flicker Drive in Rio Verde will be held immediately after the services.