Harry J. Paraska
Harry J. Paraska, 77, of Mars passed away Thursday morning at UPMC Passavant Hospital in McCandless Township.
Born June 20, 1941, in Ancon, the Panama Canal Zone, he was the son of the late Nicholas and Martha Lewis Paraska.
Harry was a civil engineer for PDM in Pittsburgh, and most recently he had worked for II-VI Inc. in Saxonburg.
He was a member of Gospel Fellowship Church in Middlesex Township.
He was the Pennsylvania State Chaplain for the Gideons International and also belonged to the Mars Kiwanis Club, where he was a past president and had held several other positions. Harry was also a member of the Mars History and Landmark Association.
He had served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.
Surviving are his wife, Nora Anderson Paraska, whom he married on July 10, 1965; his children, Nathan (Dana) Paraska of New Castle, Rebekah (Mark) Bolze of Carlisle, Pa., Deborah (Patrick) Wadding of Middlesex Township, and Joanna (Edward) Dray of Uniontown, Ohio; his grandchildren, Rachel, James, Leah, Christopher, Sydney, Matthew, Jonathan, Sarah, David, Nora and Elijah; his great-grandchildren, Wesley and William; and his brothers, Nicholas (Jan) Paraska of Granger, Ind., and Robert Paraska of Lakewood, Ohio.
PARASKA — Friends of Harry J. Paraska, who died Thursday, March 7, 2019, will be received from 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday at McDonald-Aeberli Funeral Home, 238 Crowe Ave., Mars.Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday at Gospel Fellowship Church, 161 McFann Road, Valencia, with the Rev. Nick Protos officiating.Burial with military honors will be held in Mars Cemetery in Adams Township.In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Gideons International in honor of Harry Paraska, P.O. Box 140800, Nashville, TN 37214.Directions and condolences are available at www.mcdonald-aeberli.com.
