The Wanted.Photo: SplashNews.com
On Wednesday, family and close friends attended a private ceremony at St Francis of Assisi church in Petts Wood, London for Parker, who was 33. During the funeral, his bandmates served as pallbearers and his wife Kelsey delivered an emotional eulogy honoring her late husband.
Kelsey’s words were pre-recorded because it would be “too painful to stand up in front of everyone,” perBBCandSky News, and she said marrying Parker was “the best day” of her life.
Tom Parker and wife Kelsey with their children in 2021.Tom Parker Instagram
In her eulogy, she recalled meeting Parker when she was 19 outside a nightclub. The singer asked if he could add her on Facebook and she said “the rest is history.”
“I told everyone from that moment, I’m going to marry Tom Parker,” she said, according to the outlet.
Kelsey Parker.Raw Image LTD/MEGA
“Life with you, Tom, was never boring,” she continued. “We spent a lot of our first years together drinking Mahiki dry, dancing all night long, parties in our Battersea flat, and having the funniest, most irrelevant drunken fights.”
She later added, “You were the best husband I could ever ask for… You did everything with love and no malice.”
Tom Parker’s Funeral Service.GC Images/GC Images
Outside the church, flowers spelled out the words “Glad You Came,” the title of The Wanted’s 2011 smash hit.
Parker’s bandmates also spoke during the funeral and joked about their late friend as they honored him — lightening the mood, per the outlet.
GC Images/GC Images
“As we were carrying Tom in, I could actually hear him saying, ‘It’s about time,’ because he’s carried us for the last 15 years,” George, 33, joked.
“Tom was and always will be a brother to myself and my bandmates. He made such an impact on us from the start, and his love for music and his stride for success outmatched any of us.”
Liam Payne.SplashNews.com
“It is so wonderful to see all the support for Tom,” Kaneswaran continued. “There’s one thing we can all agree on — Tom Parker was an absolute hero.”
George concluded: “He has left us far too early and we will miss him so much. The heartbreak shared here today is a credit to the love Tom shared. The people outside, the people all around the world, is a credit to him. Rest easy, mate.”
The Wanted.SplashNews.com
Parker and his wife, who married in 2018, are parents to daughter Aurelia Rose, 2½, and son Bodhi Thomas, 18 months.
source: people.com
