Obituaries

The Reverend William J. Paran died on March 22, 2018 in New Providence, N.J. He was 89.

William John Panaretos was born on April 21, 1928 in Springfield, Massachusetts to the former Marion Stevenson and John Panaretos; the family surname was later changed to Paran.

Bill served in the Navy from 1946-48, and afterwards moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he married the former Marjory Davis (known as Marnie) in 1950. They were married until her death in 1999.

He earned an accounting degree from the University of Detroit and began his career as an accountant with Ernst & Ernst. In 1965, he moved his family to Ohio, where he completed a three-year graduate divinity program at Bexley Hall seminary (then affiliated with Kenyon College). He was ordained to the Episcopal ministry in 1968, and subsequently served as assistant rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Midland, Michigan (1968-1974); rector of St. James, Piqua, Ohio (1974-1985); and rector of St. Paul's, Lansing, Michigan (1985-1989). He then undertook training in interim ministry, serving in that capacity at parishes in Battle Creek, Port Huron and Grand Rapids.

He married Patricia Davenport McCormick in 2003. They lived in Kamuela, Hawaii and Sarasota, Florida before relocating briefly to Michigan and then to New Jersey.

Bill was a lifelong lover of classical music and crossword puzzles, and in his retirement, he became an avid shell collector.

His survivors include his wife Patricia; five children, Steven, Janice, Douglas, Sandra and Andrew Paran; four stepsons, Kenneth, Steven, Kevin and Paul McCormick; one stepdaughter, Carolyn McCormick Johnson; two siblings, Louise Baldini and Robert Paran; eight grandchildren; six step-grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

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