Franklin F. PASKIN

PASKIN, DEY, HILDEBRAND, SHAFFER, ECCLES, WESTERMAN, MORRIS, LEFTWICH, ESMAY, CAMERON, PLATTS

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 12/29/2007 at 10:38:36

Franklin F. Paskin of Gridley [Kansas] died Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2007, at the Yates Center Health Care and Rehabilitation in Yates Center where he moved two weeks ago from his home. He was 87. Mr. Paskin moved to Gridley in 1952 with his family, where he and his wife, Ellen, operated the Gridley Locker and Grocery. He had also worked at Strahm Boats, the Gridley Grade school and the Postal Service in Gridley.

The son of Robert and Katherine Dey Paskin, he was born Aug. 31, 1920, at Morgan, Minn. When he was seven, his mother died and the family moved to Goldfield, Iowa, to be near an aunt and uncle. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1940 and served during World War II aboard the USS William Eustis. On March 17, 1944, his ship was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine and sank in the waters of the North Atlantic. He and his crew were rescued after five hours in the sea.

He married Ellen Faye Hildebrand on Dec. 4, 1944, at Waterloo, Iowa. She died July 27, 1971. He married Freda Mae Shaffer Eccles on Dec. 19, 1975. She died July 30, 2005. Mr. Paskin was a member of the Gridley United Methodist Church. He also was a member of American Legion Phillips-Stukey-Shaffer Post 296.

He is survived by one daughter, Juday Westerman of Piqua; one son, Jeff Paskin of Powderly, Texas; five stepsons, Alan Eccles, Dale Eccles and Art Eccles, all of Gridley, Bill Eccles of McPherson and David Eccles of Chanute; one stepdaughter, Beverly Morris of Andover; 17 grandchildren; and 19 great-grandchildren. Two daughters, Jill Leftwich and Janice Paskin; one son, Joel Paskin; two brothers, Ben Paskin and Allen Paskin; and three sisters, Katherine Esmay, Eileen Cameron and Mildred Platts, died earlier.

The funeral will be at 1:30 p.m. Friday at the Jones Funeral Home in Burlington. Burial will be in Gridley Cemetery at Gridley. The family will meet friends from 7 to 8 p.m. today at the funeral home. Memorial contributions to the Gridley Veterans Memorial may be sent in care of the funeral home, P.O. Box 277, Burlington, KS 66839.

Emporia Gazette, The (KS)
December 13, 2007