Daniel F. Pawling, Sr.
Boston: Daniel Felix Pawling Sr., 95, passed away peacefully June 12, 2022.
Daniel, “Dan Sr.”, “D2”, “Grandpa” or “GG” was born in Derby, Connecticut on January 10, 1927
to Henry Thomas Pawlikowski and Dora Bilisnasky. He is survived by his children, Jan M.
Decatur & Daniel F. Pawling, Jr., 7 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren.
He grew up as an only child moving to many places in Connecticut. His father passed away
when he was 9. His mother was a nurse in the Army during WW2. As a child he loved to watch
airplanes at the Hartford airport & wanted to be a pilot. Steam locomotives & model trains were
at the top of the list of his many interests and remained a lifelong passion. As he grew he
attended private schools and graduated from his beloved school, Northfield Mount Hermon, in
Northfield, Massachusetts. He attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for engineering until he
enlisted in the Army near the end of WW2. After the war he received a bachelor’s degree in
geography at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. He went on to work at the
Worcester Planning Department, the Newark N.J. Central Planning board and the Tri-State
Regional Planning Commission, New York City. He finished his working career at age 87
retiring from the American Insurance group. In retirement he was noted for his love and
encouragement of family and friends, curiosity, a very sharp memory, healthy eating, exercise, a
will to thrive and his enthusiasm for voting, patriotism and politics.
At age 21 he met Jean Killian, age 20, in a family arranged meeting in Dorchester,
Massachusetts. After the war they were married in Grafton, Massachusetts on June 19, 1948.
They spent the of summer ‘48 as Hut Masters for the Appalachian Mountain Club at Lonesome
Lake in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. After graduating Clark University, they
became loving parents to Jan and Dan. They were married for 27 years before their divorce.
After this they developed a caring relationship and shared many family events together.
A celebration of life will be held in the fall in order to include family and friends living at a
distance.
Please send memorial donations to Northfield Mount Hermon School, Northfield, Massachusetts
or to the Democratic Party.
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Dear Dad,
Thank you for you! Thank you for being here for 69 years of my life. You were a rock.
I always knew you were close by.
Thanks for all the things you have done for me, the big things and the little things. Most of all thanks for pointing out the unusual things on our walks around your home in Boston, such as the flowers you loved to see, especially in the peculiar places they chose to grow. I would have walked right by and never noticed. I loved how you would welcome babies to earth and see the smiles on their parents faces.
You were truthful and honest and wanted to do the right thing and didn’t take the easy way out but chose to do what was practical and right.
You were so thoughtful. One big thing that resides in my heart is the care package you sent after our family was hit with the two hurricanes, Bertha and Fran, with in a few weeks of each other. The package was full of supplies we couldn’t get such as batteries candles and other things. Seeing my kids faces and what I felt in my heart stays with me and tells me to be thoughtful myself. So Dad,
thanks for many moments like that.
Dad, you thanked me for being with and helping you when you were sick but you really helped me with lots of things I didn’t know about me. I miss you bunches. Love you Dad! 🙂
What a great guy. Seeing this late. Also an NMH alum.