R. Michael Pawlina - Spicer-Mullikin Funeral Homes & Crematory

R. Michael Pawlina

Born September 29, 1950

R. Michael Pawlina, age 64, of Newark and formerly of Wilmington, DE, passed away suddenly on Thursday, April 2, 2015.

Born in Cambridge Springs, PA on September 29, 1950, he was the son of the late Anthony Pawlina and Pearl (Zawada) Pawlina. He graduated from Archmere Academy in 1968 and attended the University of Delaware.
A golf enthusiast, Michael worked for many years at Delcastle Golf Course. He was an avid fan of both the Blue Hen football and basketball teams and regularly attended games.

He is survived by his daughter, Mary S., of New York, NY; and sisters, Marcia, Karen and Judith.

Services and interment will be held privately.

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6 Condolences for R. Michael Pawlina

  • I am so sorry to hear of your loss. I did not know your loved one personally, but I do know the pain of losing a loved one in death. It is my hope that you may find comfort from family and friends, and from “the God of all comfort” who can provide us with peace during such difficult times. – 2 Corinthians 1:3

  • Dear Marcia, Karen & Judy:

    Diane saw the obit and informed me of Michael’s passing. I have so many fond memories of our time together – over a decade! – and my heart goes out to you and his daughter. My family and our college friends echo these sentiments. If I could know of his resting place, I would like to visit and place flowers.

    God bless you all,
    Debbe

  • Ms. Deborah Phillips:

    I’m very sorry to bother you. We’ve never met. My names is Anthony Harrison. I live in Dale City Virginia.

    I’m contacting you through the Spicer-Mullikin Funeral Home regarding the obituary for a R. Michael Pawlina. You wrote a message of condolence to the Pawlina family on the funeral home’s website.

    I lived in Delaware from August 1952 through July 1964. My father made a corporate move in 1964 and my parents moved their family far away from Delaware. After retiring from my own career a couple of years ago, I had a life altering medical event occur. After going through that, I recently decided to research for information on several individuals that were friends in years past. The individuals are from places I’ve worked, from college in upstate New York, from high school in upstate New York, and from Catholic grade school in Delaware. The purpose of doing the research was to try and make contact with them.

    One of the individuals I was trying to research (using Google, White pages, etc.) was a classmate in Catholic grade school. In 1964 he was (then) a young teenager by the name of Mike Pawlina. In doing the research I couldn’t find anyone with that name. But, I found information for a Ronald Michael Pawlina.

    After finding that information for Ronald Michael Pawlina, I found the funeral home’s website and the obituary.

    Mike Pawlina was a classmate at St. Helena’s Catholic Elementary school in Wilmington Delaware. I only knew him as Mike, or Michael, Pawlina. I didn’t know of a different first name. He was a classmate, a great student, a really good athlete, and a friend. We both graduated from St. Helena’s school in June 1964.

    If this is the same Michael Pawlina that I knew, I want to send an expression of sympathy (card and letter) to the family.

    Do you know if if the R. Michael Pawlina who has passed away was a student at St. Helena’s Catholic Elementary School in Wilmington?

    Again, I’m sorry to bother you, and I really appreciate anything you can tell me.

    Thank you.

    (p.s. My wife, Anna, and I share this e-mail account. That’s why you’ll see her name on the from: line.)

    Anthony Harrison
    Dale City, Va

  • Hi, Anthony:

    You don’t know how happy I am to see that someone else knows my beloved Michael and has reached out to share your kind thoughts! Yes, I’m sure it’s the same (he never used Ronald). Unfortunately, I don’t know any of his family’s whereabouts, so I would recommend writing a note of sympathy to his family on this on-line book, and hopefully they will see it. My best friend and I both went on FB and found a Mary Pawlina whom we assume to be his daughter in NY and sent a message of condolence to her. If you go on the Delaware Online guestbook, you can see a picture of Michael and me in 1973! God bless you,

    Debbe

  • Debbe,

    I saw the picture. That’s a very nice photograph of a young couple. I can’t tell from it, though, if it is the same Mike Pawlina I knew.

    It looks like the picture was taken in the early 1970s. The Mike Pawlina I knew has a crew cut (it was 1964). With the hair (looks like mine did in college only even more) and an adult face (instead of the 13 year old face I remember) it’s hard to tell.

    However, the Mike Pawlina I knew was supposed to go to Archmere Academy starting in the fall of 1964, so he should have graduated from Archmere in June of 1968 (which is what the obituary above says). His father had already passed away when I first met him in January 1960 (my family moved from one neighborhood to another in Delaware and I had to change from one catholic grade school to another). His dad, I was told by someone in the early 1960s, had been the head football coach at Archmere.

    I believe I’ve traced down another classmate from St. Helena’s Catholic Elementary school in Wilmington Delaware that I wanted to contact, a guy by the name of John Ramler. The John Ramler I knew did go on to Archmere Academy. I know because he and I sent a few letters back and forth the first year of high school to update each other on what we were doing. If this is the same guy, (and the person I’ve just found lives here in Northern Virginia – almost in Dale City), then I should be able to find out if this is the same Mike Pawlina, because they would have been classmates for four years and would have graduated together.

    Now, as far as contacting the family, if you dated Mike Pawlina for that long I assume you met his family, and I assume that the names of the sisters listed in the obituary above are the same names of sisters you knew.

    If that’s so, I can help with you contacting them. I already have the names, addresses, and phone numbers for two of the three sisters listed in the obituary. When I said I wanted to send a card and letter, I already had those from the research I’ve done. I got them from Radaris.com and FamilyTreeNow.com. I have that for Judith Pawlina (lives in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania) and Marcia Pawlina (lives in Newark, Delaware).

    I’m going to give you my e-mail address and phone number here on the website to simply save time. I can e-mail you all the information on his sisters included in the e-mail message or I can send you a link in the e-mail to the pages at Radaris and FamilyTree.

    My wife Anna and I share the e-mail account so you’ll see her name on the from line. The email is: [email protected]. If you want to call our home phone (landline) here in Dale City is 703-590-5942.

    I’m going to call this John Ramler I’ve found this afternoon because the Delaware Online Guestbook with your picture says the guestbook will only remain open until next week – May 12, 2015.

    (p.s. I know of at least one other person from St. Helena’s catholic grade school I will try to contact about this. I believe the person still lives in Delaware.)

    Anthony Harrison
    Dale City, Va

  • Hi, Anthony,

    Thanks so much! I think I found Karen’s correct address so I mailed a card to her family. I’m certain my Michael is the same as yours. He lived only about a block away from St. Helena’s and his dad was head coach at Archmere.

    I wasn’t sure if you’d seen my reply, so I mailed a note to you yesterday. You should be receiving it in the next few days. I hope I’m able to find out his final resting place so that I can visit on September 29, his birthday.

    Again, I appreciate your kind thoughts,

    Debbe