Katherine Parkhill remembered Generosity and Community

A Champaign obituary honors Katherine Dunn Parkhill and her years of community service.

Katherine Parkhill Remembered Generosity and Community

Katherine Dunn Parkhill died on August 5, 2025, surrounded by family in Champaign. Born October 16, 1961, in Urbana, she grew up with her sister Cari and a close circle of friends. She attended Carrie Busey Elementary, Edison Middle School and Champaign Central High School. She studied at the University of Colorado in Boulder, joined the Pi Beta Phi sorority, and developed a lifelong love of Colorado. She began a career in Chicago in sales for a company that specialized in retail security technology. On June 17, 1988, she married David Parkhill in Lake Geneva. The couple lived in Denver before returning to Champaign to raise Joey and Rachel. Katie became deeply involved in the community through organizations such as the Junior League of Champaign-Urbana, CU Mentoring, Crisis Nursery, The Art Club, Mother’s Morning Out Board and Children’s Home and Aid of Illinois. Later she worked at Checkered Moon, where her presence lit up the shop and brightened the day of customers. She loved tennis and played with her USTA team The Babes, and she also learned golf, pickleball, mahjong and bridge. Travel remained a joy, but family and her golden retrievers were her true home. Her grandsons, Brodie, Parker and Jack, were the light of her life. Funeral services are set for Friday, August 22, at First Presbyterian Church of Champaign, followed by a celebration of life at Champaign Country Club. In lieu of flowers, donors may contribute to the Champaign Parks Foundation or the Mills Breast Cancer Institute through the Carle Health Foundation, or to Clark Park to support the renovated playground. She is survived by her husband, two children Joey Parkhill and Rachel Sanvidge, her mother Christine Dunn, sister Cari Dunn and in-laws Bergen and Marilyn Parkhill.

Katherine Parkhill's obituary shows how a local life is threaded through a network of volunteers and civic projects. It reflects midwest values: family ties paired with public service. The piece highlights acts of giving that extend beyond the immediate circle, from mentoring to crisis nursery and park foundations. A local obituary becomes a map of values as much as a record of dates.

It also demonstrates how private sorrow becomes a communal moment by inviting neighbors to remember and support causes in the deceased name. In Champaign, such notices reinforce a shared identity built on warmth, generosity, and neighborhood ties.

Highlights

Her memory invites ongoing acts of kindness in Champaign