Celebration of Life for my father, Paul
It wasn’t until I was a young adult in college, chatting with classmates in lab about where we were from and what our childhood was like, that I realized my dad was not like most other dads. My dad, a city boy-turned-country-man working professionally as a Mechanical Engineer was not what I considered all that unusual. But as I started to share my story and got into the details of how my father had logged and milled his own lumber to build the home that he raised his family in, I remember distinctly the look of disbelief on the faces of those I was sharing my story with. When I got to the part about how my father had two ponds dug on our property for fishing and swimming my audience grimaced. “Ew! You swim in PONDS? That’s disgusting!” I stopped my story, half-convinced they thought I was telling a tall-tale. We all went back to work. I remember trying very hard to focus on the lab assignment at hand, being distracted by a deep satisfaction in telling my tale. This was a big deal – a pivotal moment in my life. It was that day when I realized a uniqueness in myself, in my siblings and our childhood, and especially in my dad.
Paul was born in Niagara Falls, New York on March 5th 1951. He got his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York. His first engineering job at Monarch is what brought Paul to the central New York area, where he met his wife, Vicki.
Together Paul and Vicki drove the Lapeer countryside looking for an undeveloped plot of land to start their home and family on. The plot they liked the best turned out to be owned by the couple whose door they knocked upon first to inquire – Lawson and Silvia. Lawson and Silvia not only sold them the property on the spot, but became very close friends and mentors of Paul and Vicki. Lawson had a sawmill of his own, and Silvia was a treasure-trove of good old-fashioned baking and quilting knowledge.
Paul and Vicki had five children: April, Michelle, Joel, Holly and Katie. In addition to building himself a sawmill and the family home, Paul also built a playhouse, treehouse, green house and sugar shack, quite literally with his own bare hands. He built his own tractor and was capable of fixing anything, including automobiles, appliances, and the perpetually broken lawnmower. Paul managed all of this while working professionally full-time as a Mechanical Engineer, being the breadwinner of the family while Vicki raised all the children. The weekday evenings and weekends spent with a hammer or tools in Paul’s hands are countless.
With the same relentless ambition Paul exhibited in working so hard, he relaxed just as hard. Paul was an avid fisherman, and hauling his wife and five small children up into the boondocks of nowhere in the Canadian wilderness where the fish were plentiful and the campsite was “three hours from the nearest hospital, so don’t get hurt!” was a regular outing, even if school was in session. If Paul had only a week’s vacation and wanted to go to Florida, he would maximize the trip by driving the family station wagon straight through the night, windows down and the “good tunes” blaring. At home (when he wasn’t working on the house or the broken lawnmower), Paul loved to fish in his ponds, sit by the campfire and make maple syrup and wine. Paul also enjoyed hunting, camping, skiing and backpacking and was both enthusiastic and purposeful in sharing all of his favorite pastimes with his children and his seven grandchildren.
Paul is a man that all of us will be reminded by repeatedly as life moves on. Whether we’re working hard past dinner time to get something done, cracking a beer after a hard day of manual labor, tinkering with a broken something-or-other, taking a break from the day-to-day to be out in nature, blasting our good tunes, or just sitting amidst the noise and chaos of loved ones with a cheeky grin, these will be the reminders of how Paul has left his imprint on each of us.
ready to party
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One Response to “Celebration of Life for my father, Paul”
July 10th, 2022 at 5:19 pm
The Celebration was perfect!
Paul was a uniquely talented person. He not only built exceptional structures; he created a remarkable family.
We enjoyed being at the Celebration.
—-Marian & Rege
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