Bob and Carol Parvin

In 1965, Bob and Carol Parvin moved from New York to San Francisco and settled into an apartment near Japantown, a short stroll from the Tenderloin neighborhood and GLIDE.

They had seen a bit of the country and the world by then: Bob grew up on a farm in Washington state and served during World War II in France as a U.S. Army mail courier. Carol grew up in Tennessee and attended university there. By the late 1950s, both were living in New York, where they met at a church event and married.

San Francisco appealed to them—they loved music and stargazing and sailing on the bay. Their compassion for neighbors in need motivated them to invest in the community. Bob, who worked in the insurance industry, spent many years as a reading tutor. Carol, a secretary at an accounting firm, became an active community service volunteer at a local church.

They observed the neighborhoods around them and who was making a difference in people’s lives. GLIDE stood out for its work in the Tenderloin. When the Parvins moved to San Francisco, the church was experiencing a rebirth. Reverend Cecil Williams had arrived a few years earlier and started a street ministry focused on the needs of poor and marginalized people.

Bob and Carol began donating regularly to GLIDE. Over time, they realized they wanted to provide more support to ensure GLIDE’s long-term stability. They knew that they could make a more transformative gift through planned giving than they could make during their lifetimes, so they established a trust that would later provide a generous bequest to GLIDE.

Carol passed away in 2016 and Bob in 2020, but the Parvins’ compassion lives on through the work supported by their gift. It lives on whenever GLIDE helps people off the streets and toward self-sufficiency, whenever GLIDE challenges unjust laws, whenever GLIDE changes hearts and minds to build a more compassionate San Francisco.

GLIDE honors the Parvins’ legacy by sharing the story of their compassion and generosity. We also honor their memory by recognizing them as members of our Cecil & Jan Legacy Circle, a group of like-minded individuals who have included GLIDE in their estate plans.

Would you like to make a transformative bequest to GLIDE—as the Parvins did—via your will, trust or estate plan? Do you need more information or have questions? Please call or email Planned Giving at legacygiving@GLIDE.org or 415-674-6186, and we'll be happy to assist you!