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SALT LAKE CITY – A Holladay family is offering forgiveness to the driver of a hit-and-run accident that killed UVU student Isabelle Parr.
"We don't have any bad feelings towards the driver. We hope that the driver can find our forgiveness and our love and have hope for the future, whatever that looks like," Isabelle's father Matthew Parr said.
It's been one year since Isabelle Parr was killed while jogging in Provo. She was struck by a vehicle sometime between 5:20 p.m. and 5:25 p.m. on Dec. 1, 2022, near 850 W. 800 North. The driver never stopped to help.
"It bothers us in just that we don't know. We don't have a conclusion to the accident story, and so it just hangs out there," Matthew Parr said. "But we don't have any ill will towards the driver. Accidents happen. We don't know the situation, we just know the results of the event."
In an exclusive interview with KSL-TV, Parr spoke publicly about the loss of his daughter for the first time. He said from the moment he, his wife, and their four other children learned about what happened to Isabelle, they've focused on honoring the life she lived.
"She was thriving," he said. "She really liked being a young adult and found peace and happiness, and she was just going full steam and it was great."
He said while his daughter had a passion for fashion and loved clothing, she wanted to be a teacher.
He said one of his favorite memories of her is her love of desserts. "She loved to take one bite of all the desserts. She would come in and if you had a dozen donuts, she had to take one bite of every donut just to try it out," he said.
We don't have any bad feelings towards the driver. We hope that the driver can find our forgiveness and our love and have hope for the future, whatever that looks like.
–Matthew Parr
He said she shared a special bond with her siblings and valued spending time with them.
"She loved her little sisters, just absolutely adored having little sisters," he said. "The three of them were just good, super best friends."
Matthew Parr's son, Tate, who is close in age to Isabelle Parr, is currently serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was in Africa when she was killed. Over the past year, the family has leaned into their faith and their belief in eternal families to help them through their grief.
"We've come together as a family with our faith and hope, and I think the future is bright, and we're grateful for her memories," Matthew Parr said.
As the family approaches the first anniversary of Isabelle Parr's passing, the family gathered with extended family to honor her. Wednesday night, they visited her gravesite as her headstone was placed. Earlier in the week, the family visited the accident site and placed a giant rock displaying a sunflower, which was beautifully painted by one of her younger sisters.
"Everywhere you see the yellow sunflower, and this fall there were all kinds of wild sunflowers around and we took notice of that, and it was fantastic, it was special," said Parr.
When asked if there was a motto Isabelle lived her life by, Matthew Parr shared a story from her LDS mission in Winter Quarters. He said Isabelle was helping to build a rock wall for a service project when one of the volunteers said, "Sometimes you have to love them into place."
"So that was kind of her saying after that, to love people into place. And that takes time and patience, and it takes effort. And I think that's a great summary of her life and it's to love people into place, and she did a great job," he said.
Matthew Parr hopes that someday they'll know the full story of what happened during the accident that took Isabelle's life, but in the meantime, they're choosing not to dwell on it.
"We can't change the events of the accident, so we focused on becoming stronger as a family and understanding what the big picture looks like," said Matthew Parr.
He shared this message for that driver:
"For the driver, we've offered our forgiveness. That individual has to live knowing that this accident took place for the rest of their life, and that's a challenge as well, and it's difficult, and we want to reach out with love and understanding that life's challenges happen, and we hope that individual has a good future and can move on as we move on."
