Paul D May

Paul D May, 94, passed away on January 26th following a brief illness. He was born to the late Walter and Elsie (Collett) May in 1926.  He was predeceased by his wife Marjorie (Carroll) in 2001 and his two brothers, Walter R and Robert E May. Survived by his three sons, David May and his wife Patricia of Denver, Dennis May of Amsterdam, The Netherlands and Joseph May and his wife Sandra of Marlborough. He leaves six grandchildren and one great grandson; Michael May and his wife Elyse of Foxborough, Andrew May and his fiancée Emily Denault of Framingham, Kelly May and her fiancé Zachary Diehl of New York City, Meaghan, Benjamin and Tucker Hildreth of Boston, Kaitlyn and James Rolston, of Philadelphia and Erinn May and her husband Jeremy Makuch of New York City.

A native of Marlborough, Paul was a member of MHS Class of 1944 where he captained in football and baseball. After graduation, he joined the U.S. Navy and served in WWII as an air traffic controller. Paul earned an electrical engineering degree from WPI in 1950 while playing shortstop for the baseball team. After graduation, he married Marjorie and they lived in Pittsburgh, Detroit, Grand Rapids MI and Hartford while working for Federal Pacific and Westinghouse where he at one point was responsible for safeguarding plans of the USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine. Moving back to Marlborough in 1960, Paul became a partner in RP Hyland and Control Systems Engineering.

He was a member of the IC and St. Matthias churches where he had served as president of the Holy Name Society. He was also a member of the Italian American Club, Long Beach Association, past member of the Bolton Street Association, Marlborough Country Club and served on the City of Marlborough’s Board of Appeals. His interests were his family, all sports, especially our Boston teams along with his grandchildren’s college teams. He always loved golf and achieved shooting his age at 86.   

Paul loved to travel with Marje and their friends to Europe and Asia as well as cruising the Caribbean. They spent many of their winters in Marco Island FL. In recent years, Paul continued to travel with his companion, Ruth (Walcott) Rowe, who passed in September 2020. 

Above all, Paul’s favorite place in the world was his home at Long Beach in Rockport MA where he spent every summer of his life with his family, a legacy started by his father over 100 years ago.  His front porch, the Atlantic Ocean, a Manhattan in hand - No finer tribute…

Graveside services will be held at 10:00am on Monday, February 1st at Immaculate Conception Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to Holy Family Parish of Gloucester & Rockport MA. https://ccgronline.churchgiving.com.

Arrangements under the direction of the Short& Rowe Funeral Home (www.shortandrowefuneralhome.com) of Marlborough. 

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