Robert Edward Parham, 25, of Camden, died Thursday, August 1 at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, not far from where he was born on April 30, 1999, at Baptist Medical Center.

He succumbed at the end of a seven-year struggle with Ewing's Sarcoma, a rare and incurable pediatric bone cancer which was discovered a week following his graduation as a member of the 2017 senior class at Camden Fairview High School. With the beginning of intensive chemotherapy treatments that summer, he was unable to pursue his plans of entering fall classes at Henderson State University as a member of the Reddies Marching Band in pursuit of a career as a band director. Robert was a talented trombone player who attended band camps across south Arkansas and was a multiple All Region trombonist for the Cardinals Marching Band.

Instead, he was a model patient at both Arkansas Children's Hospital and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. One oncologist recently remarked that Robert's case was a complicated one which did not follow textbook examples, a sentiment shared over the years by others in the medical profession. He was well regarded personally by the many doctors, nurses and staff at Children's, who share in the grief of his parents, Edward and Teresa Parham of Camden, who served their son as his caregivers throughout his ordeal.

Robert is also survived by his grandfather, Edward M. Parham of Fordyce, uncles Gradie Nance and James Nance of Camden and Rodney Parham of Little Rock; aunts Carol McAnally of Texarkana, Susan Adams of Texarkana, and Sandra Turner of Sheridan; many Nance and Parham cousins besides extended family in all directions of Arkansas and beyond; and a circle of close friends Seth Baldwin, Hamza Hajeh, and Josh Mulligan who will serve as honorary pallbearers.

Predeceased are his grandparents, Elmer and Vivian Nance and Clora Parham.

Public visitation will be 5-7 p.m. Sunday at Proctor Funeral Home, 442 Jefferson Street Southwest in Camden, with graveside service 9 a.m. at Memorial Park Cemetery officiated by Judge Bob Shepherd. The family requests comfortable, casual attire be worn for the services. In lieu of flowers, contributions are welcome by the Robert Parham Memorial Fund at Proctor's, please make checks payable to Proctor Funeral Home.