THE REDLANDS DAILY FACTS

Redlands, California, U.S.A.

19 June 1952

(page 9)

Blast Kills Chemist, Mother Commits Suicide.

PASADENA—Army ordinance experts searched the rubbled interior of a chemist's garage today for the cause of an explosion that took his life, resulting also in the suicide of his mother, officers said.

Dead were John W. Parsons [Jack Parsons], 31, who was blown to pieces by a terrific explosion which apparently occurred accidentally while he was packing chemicals in a box, and his mother, Mrs. Ruth Virginia Parsons, 58, who apparently took her life with an overdose of sleeping tablets after she was informed of her son's death yesterday.

Police officer Lt. John C. Elliott said Mrs. Parsons was administered two sleeping tablets by a friend on the orders of her physician after she had been informed of Parson's death.

Elliott said, however, that when the friend, Mrs. Nedia Kibort, 59, left the room for a moment, Mrs. Parsons apparently gulped most of the remaining tablets in the bottle.

Robert Cameron, 28, brother-in-law of Parsons, said the chemist formerly was connected with Cal Tech and since had been employed as a consulting chemist with many firms in the area.

Cameron said Parsons was recognized as one of the foremost authorities on rocket propulsion and aided in the establishment of the jet propulsion laboratory at Cal Tech.