He attended technical schools there, and began work as a bricklayer with the Standard Oil Company in Bayonne, New Jersey.

He served with the 49th Battalion, under the command of fellow future mayor William Antrobus Griesbach.

Upon his return to Canada, Parsons married Gertrude Florence Smitt on January 8, 1918; the pair had three sons.

He was president of the Ex-Servicemen's Association and was an executive member of the Montgomery branch of the Royal Canadian Legion.

Sidney Parsons died April 22, 1955, after a cerebral embolism and was buried at the Edmonton Municipal Cemetery.