We are sad to let you know of the passing of Ardis E. Parshall. She died on Sunday, February 22, 2026.
A graveside service will be held on Thursday, February 26, at 1:00 p.m. MST. The location is Larkin Sunset Gardens, 1950 East 10600 South, Sandy, Utah. Ardis Evelyn Parshall will be buried near her beloved parents, Bernice Edith Taylor Parshall and George Edward Parshall.
Keepapitchinin began in 2008. It is not just a blog, but a digital library of the Mormon people, with a special emphasis on those who were forgotten. Ardis wrote her last post here on April 10, 2025. Since it was her 8,400th post, she stopped, although she continued conversations on Facebook and Threads.
Ardis’s work has helped shape Mormon studies, Latter-day Saint history, and Utah history. Her 2005 article, “‘Pursue, Retake & Punish’: The 1857 Santa Clara Ambush” is still used in college classes. She wrote history columns for the Salt Lake Tribune. She wrote The Corianton Saga and co-authored books with W. Paul Reeve, James Goldberg, and Michael Austin.
Ardis’s ability to make connections was legendary. She occupied a middle ground between formal academia and the wider field of Mormon studies, using her encyclopedic knowledge and storytelling ability to share important historical information and mentor a generation of scholars, young and old. The Mormon History Association named the Ardis E. Parshall Public History Award in honor of her work.
Besides her razor sharp intellect, she also did not let things slide if she considered something nonsense. Her friend Cynthia wrote, “In one of the giant [social media] threads singing her praises, one person said they admired her ‘gentle’ communication style and I thought, well, sure, in some contexts. But it’s really her lay waste to fools like a Star Wars super laser side that I will remember as one of a kind. I found it both intimidating and inspiring.”
Ardis carefully and lovingly built Keepapitchinin post by post and made sure it was both a conversation and a community. Her influence will live on in her work and in the work of the many scholars she supported and mentored and all those who read and retell her stories.
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Many of you have already shared memories elsewhere, but please also share your memories of Ardis here.
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Link to the funeral web-stream on Thursday:
https://www.facebook.com/events/25640382642327892/
Link to Peggy Fletcher Stack’s obituary for Ardis at the Salt Lake Tribune:
https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2026/02/24/cherished-mormon-historian-ardis/
If you would like to contribute to memorializing Ardis and her life’s work, Joseph Stuart and Paul Reeve are overseeing a fund:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/honor-ardis-parshall-by-preserving-her-lifes-work
Thank you for making the livestream possible. I would have loved to be there in person, but 800 miles and scheduling issues make that problematic.
Ardis had great creative ideas, gave expert cat care tips, and curated the world’s most awesome book stack. She was a behind-the-scenes supporter of more projects than any of us probably realize. She was a long-time friend of the Mormon Women’s History Initiative Team (MWHIT) and our work; she regularly donated to our fundraising bazaars, including items from her cherished collection of linens.
I am grateful that Ardis was my friend, and I benefitted countless times from her impeccable research and her thoughtful outreach. But one of my favorite Ardis memories is unrelated to her professional life. It’s from the time we both worked at the Church History Department. I had posted on on social media about wanting to borrow a socket wrench because I was trying to fix my broken washing machine. In response, Ardis left a grocery bag filled with socket wrenches on my desk! I loved that unexpected gesture. I know I’m one of innumerable people with whom Ardis shared historical tidbits, but maybe I’m the only one (or not?!) who also got to borrow a bagful of her socket wrenches. I will miss her very much.
Ardis worked on contract for the Smith-Pettit Foundation twice (at least– I’m not too good with keeping track). The first time was in the early 2000s, when she transcribed pages and pages of material from the Journal History. The second time was maybe ten or so years ago, when she transcribed the Leonard Arrington diaries beginning in about 1970 or 1971. As any who worked with Ardis knows, she was a speedy and meticulous typist. In the years during and since, one of the things that struck me about Ardis was how personal her involvement with the past was. For her, the past wasn’t a foreign country; the past was family. I think sometimes that she felt more comfortable in the past than in the present. The last time I saw her was at a Benchmark Books event last November. She seemed positive and upbeat; her cancer treatment had apparently gone well. She’d spent the previous Saturday at the No Kings demonstration at the State Capitol. She loved the experience and said it almost felt like home.
Ardis was my aunt. I remember before she was renowned Mormon historian Ardis Parshall, when she was still doing secretarial work with her lightening fast typing skills. I remember the day in the mid 90s when she told me that she was going to follow her dreams no matter how difficult it was because she was not content with a life of just surviving. She lived on very little for so long. She was still living in Provo, and she used to lug her clunky old laptops to take the bus up to the Church History Library every weekday. She did that for many years before she was finally able to move to Salt Lake. She was still taking the bus and walking everywhere. She went through a lot of shoes.
She used to bring those old laptops with dial up internet (if any) with her to Las Vegas for Christmas every year, and my cousins and I would use it to play Civ II and other games that she showed us. She helped my grandparents to make Christmas special. They didn’t have a lot of money, but my grandma always picked the exact right present for each of her 14-15 grandchildren. Ardis was in charge of running around to buy them since my grandma had mostly lost her sight and my grandpa started to as well. My grandmother died in February of 2000 (Ardis would certainly have been thinking of her mother on the 15th, one week before she died), and my grandpa died in 2004. Neither of us would ever have a Christmas like that again.
That same day I mentioned, she took me to the library at the U to show me how she did research. When she picked me up I told her that I was always curious about three grave stones in the American Fork Cemetery. I wondered why there were three that were obviously made at the same time. So we went to investigate, and she knew immediately based on the dates that they had died in the Scofield mine disaster. We went and looked up old newspaper articles about it. We also researched the Beatles because I had recently become interested in them, and I went home with several copies of old magazine articles that I kept for a long time. She had never liked the Beatles because she remembered the mean girls in her classes liking them (she skipped a grade in elementary school and therefore dealt with a lot of bullying). But she was happy to help me.
She never wanted anyone to know about her hardships. She never wanted to let anyone know they had hurt her. I feel privileged that there was a time when she could share those feelings with me. I am thankful that I could remember my grandparents with her. There was no one else I really felt I could do that with, in just that way that we both needed. We did not always have a smooth and perfect relationship, but I hope she knew how much I loved and respected her. I think that she did. I would often miss her and look her up. The last time I heard from her was a year ago when I emailed to congratulate her on having the award named after her. I wondered if some day in the future, another historian would “discover” her just as she discovered the stories of so many.
To me, she was always my cool aunt who never married and made a name for herself through sheer determination, genius, and the love of what she did. I wonder if she imagined this outcome 30 years ago, that she would be so respected and admired by the time she died. I think she did know there was no one like her, that there were stories out there that no one would tell if she didn’t find them.
That’s beautiful, Cherie. You were important to Ardis and you appear to have inherited the same gift for writing as your aunt!
I’m saddened by Ardis’ passing. Keepa is a rich repository of fascinating stories and photographs of little-known and ordinary Latter-day Saints. She addressed difficult issues in Latter-day Saint history with great sensitivity and wisdom. She was a gifted writer and tireless researcher. I greatly appreciate the interactions that I had with her and others here (combing through the archives brings back many memories). She created and cultivated a wonderful community here.
Thank you, Amy, for your post.
It’s good to hear from you, Justin. I wish it wasn’t under these circumstances.
Thank you for your thoughts, Gary, Janelle, and Kevin. It would be good for every old reader and commenter of Keepa to be there tomorrow at the graveside service, but I know those of us who can’t be there in person will be there by livestream or in spirit.
Like many, I followed Ardis on a number of social media platforms. After quitting Twitter, I followed her on BlueSky and Threads. She didn’t post her usual history gems. She was a cheerleader for cancer survivors and patients. She applauded those who announced their sobriety victories; she encouraged those who struggled. Her compassion and kindness were genuine.
I am grateful for her invaluable work and devotion, for our interactions and for her wisdom.
I was never lucky enough to meet Ardis in person. I was just an internet fan, a wannabe AEP groupie, and an avid Keepapitchinin reader. I wish I had known her better, but I loved reading her posts on Keepa. I greatly enjoyed her tone and her perspective, and was endlessly impressed with her wit and boundless depth of knowledge. I was lucky enough to share a few personal e-mail conversations with her, and it felt like I’d gotten a message from a rock star. She kindly sent me a photo she’d unearthed of my great-aunt as a missionary in the early 1900s so I could share it with my father. I was humbled and delighted that such a legend was willing to take time to help me with such a small thing. She will be greatly, greatly missed.
I met Ardis two times in person. And yet she has such a profound effect upon my life. How I live my religion has been shaped by her in so many ways. I am grateful for the time she gave me, how generous she was, and what an example of christlike giving she was.
I only knew Ardis through this blog. More than the content, it was her respectful and inquisitive approach to history. Not just sharing findings, but sharing techniques, how to evaluate historical sources, why some things are recorded and some are not. Giving meaning to what would pass as meaningless trivia. My favorite memory was on one occasion after an article on an obscure topic doing my own outside research, down the rabbit holes and eventually finding a local history page with more details. I linked it in my comment to add something to the conversation, only for Ardis to kindly inform me she was the author of that page as well. Knowledgeable, yet understated.
Last year I decided I was going to go back to Keepa’s first post and read everything Ardis has posted here. I knew it would take a while and I started on a great foot. But then I slacked off and then forgot my goal (ah the blessed wonky memory of middle-age and its effects on good intentions). I’ve now decided to restart that plan (this time having a spreadsheet to help me remember) and read at least one post a day. I’ve already cried twice just reading her words and people’s comments.