George Nicholas Paschalides

George Nicholas Paschalides died on the 7^th of October 2022 at home in Goffstown NH. He was born on the 9^th of April 1957 in Queens, NY, the son of Nicholas Paschalides and Margaret Paschalides. George never married. George is survived by his sister, Maria (Paschalides) Artoglou and her children Margarita and Bobby. 

Our friend George was what’s known as “a character”, “a nut”. He was a brilliant, high-energy, intense, passionate man with the emotional IQ of a 5 year old, and the sense of humor of the same. He was a brilliant aerospace engineer – a rocket scientist (worked at companies like Pratt & Whitney Aircraft ,now Raytheon, and Sanders, now BAE).  He used to explain science and engineering to folks, He was a marvel with machines & mechanical gadgets, a strong, powerfully built athlete, and an impish prankster; as quick to anger and yelling as to giggling with unabated laughter and tears in his eyes, and everything in-between.

George had a standard mode of dress. In winter: a black fruit of the loom pocket T-shirt, blue dungarees, black hooded sweatshirt, and sturdy black sneakers. In summer, a black fruit of the loom tank top and black shorts. He’d tell you that nothing was made better, and he’d buy every package in his size off the shelf.  A man of many interests and talents, one thing George thoroughly enjoyed was telling other people how to live their lives: what they should & shouldn’t eat; how to take care of their lawnmower or car; how to manage their relationships; what to purchase where; what to watch on TV… He would come to your house for a visit and bring the war movie he insisted you watch with him!

He loved many things. George loved shopping – getting the best deals (groceries, batteries, coffee makers) – and haggling over sales prices whenever he could. He was athletic, lifted weights, and did martial arts for decades, both classical fencing and jujitsu. George was on many after-work softball teams and loved baseball, especially watching his favorite team, The Mets. He loved building, fixing, studying and mucking about with anything mechanical. He was passionate about history, which may have spawned his intense interest in weapons of all sorts – guns, knives, swords – and building model tanks, helicopters, planes. and rockets. While he thoroughly enjoyed newer TV series like “Breaking Bad” and the early seasons of “The Walking Dead”, many of George’s favorite TV shows were older – Combat!, Dragnet, The Honeymooners. He often shared interesting tidbits of old movie trivia he’d picked up over the years. George was a stereophile and listening to Jazz-Rock Fusion, his favorite music genre, gave him the greatest pleasure. That, and showing off his “priceless” older stereo components.

George was a story teller. On the phone or in person, he would tell the same funny story about some family interaction or getting in trouble as a youngster -- usually for playing pranks on the unsuspecting. He loved to retell silly “bad” jokes as well. For both, he would laugh so hard during the telling, that you couldn’t even understand him! To compensate, he retold them over and over again, each time laughing as hard as the first. His laugh and his childlike quality meant that no matter how angry you got with him, it never lasted for long. That was “Just George”. And we loved him in spite of and because of it.

Remember George was “a nut”? Well, he loved to believe in ”fringe things”. It took decades for him to decide the yeti-bigfoot probably doesn’t exist. He was an avid believer in “Planet X” / Niburu – the brown dwarf planet supposedly zipping around our solar system headed straight for George’s house. He also selectively believed in other conspiracy theories and watched countless hours of YouTube videos that unequivocally “proved” each. Then he would try to convert those of us around him to the same crazy beliefs. And if you didn’t agree, you must “drink the kool aid put forth by the Left Wing Media”.

George passed away peacefully in a restful, calm sleep. But he did not want to die, was not ready to die. Everyone said he was a young, vibrant 65 year old. He had a vivacity and a lifeforce that kept him going when no one else would have been able to. And his mind was not one that stayed focused on the fact of his illness every waking second. Instead, his active energetic mind constantly moved him on to new topics and themes throughout each day during much of his illness. What a blessing! Let’s hope that we can emulate George in this at least: that we move fluidly between the full spectrum of our feelings, gliding from sadness and loss to fond memories to outright laughter and back and through, as we acclimate ourselves to the fact that George is not here in our lives the way he had been. But he is still here, in our minds and our hearts. And in the stories we will tell of him. And how he was a such special part of our lives. We love you, George! And wish you all the best on your new journey.

SERVICES: Calling hours will be held on Tuesday, October 11th, from 6-8pm at the Phaneuf Funeral Homes, 243 Hanover Street, Manchester, NH.