Christine Paul
I’m so sorry for your loss, Paula and Christine. I had to get out an old resume and do the math…I’ve known George for nearly 40 years. When Cigna was still Connecticut General, my husband played golf with George in the CG league. Then when Systems Programming was moved to Waterside Crossing in Windsor, we found ourselves sharing the 3rd floor with the Network Technology team. Thats when I really got to know George. He was smart, funny and always willing to share knowledge with a newbie systems programmer.
We would chat occasionally and thats how he found out I’d been raised by my step-father and how I found out he had a step-daughter named Christine. And he would ask me questions about what had worked for us and what did not. I suppose it helped that I idolized my stepfather, a blue collar worker who introduced me to things he loved, like classical music and camping.
I remember when he brought Christine's wedding album in to the office. He was so proud of that day.
Then eventually I left Cigna to work for United Healthcare. George made me promise to keep in touch, and thats when we started our email exchange yearly around our winter birthdays, mine in November and his in December.
This continued when he retired and moved to Florida and I retired and moved to the CT shoreline. i emailed him when I was diagnosed with MS and he emailed me when he found out he had cancer. After that we kept in touch if there was a significant change in either of our respective diagnoses. Or just if there was a change in our lives. He sent me pictures of Shadow, and I sent him pictures of my dog, Olivia.
And thats how I found out last month that his doctor found a new mass. The next communication I had was from Christine.
I’ll miss George, his empathy, kindness and humor. God bless you both.
