Timothy Allen Pasden was born May 8,1946, in Wheeling, WV, to John and Catherine (Mekos) Pasden. He was the much younger brother of Catherine “Kush” (Pasden) Gonot Dell [deceased] and John “Jim” Pasden. He’s the proud uncle of Carl Allen, Phil, and Steve Gonot, Greg Pasden, and Becky (Pasden) Chatel, as well as Mairin and Aidan McCann and Brian, Kevin, and Terry Foy on Marilynn’s side.
He attended Catholic schools in Wheeling, WV, all the way up through college. At Wheeling Jesuit College (now University), Tim met Marilynn Foy, who became his wife July 18, 1970. Graduate school at the University of Kentucky took Tim and Marilynn to Lexington, KY, where he earned his Master’s in Library Science.
It was there that their first two children, Amy and John were born. Work with GTE Data Services took the family to Brandon, FL, where Grace was born, and (some of) the family still resides. Over the course of his career, Tim held every kind of library job, except children’s libraries (Marilynn covered that).
He started out in academic and corporate special libraries, worked in and developed tech school libraries, was a reference librarian at a public library, and ended up running the law library at a state prison. He got a big kick out of telling people, “I just got out of prison,” when he would leave work for the day. The first things people who know Tim think of are: his quick wit, ready laugh, wealth/love of knowledge, and especially the love of his family – both his own, and his family in Christ.
Tim and Marilynn passed their strong faith and values, and love of knowledge (especially words) on to their kids. One of the ways Tim and Marilynn grew in their faith and set example for their kids was by joining Teams of Our Lady, an international Catholic couples’ organization. They became very involved, both locally and nationally, and even had the opportunity to attend an international event.
Through “Teams,” the Pasden family gained more extended family. Teams has been an important element of the Pasden family since they joined in the early 1980’s. Tim’s pride and joy was his family.
He and Marilynn raised three children: Amy, John, and Grace. The home was always full of love, laughter, and books! With two librarian parents, one of the family mottos became “Look it up!
” He also excelled at creative problem solving and outside-the-box thinking, which is another gift he passed on to his kids and grandkids. Amy married Orion Ghirin; the two reside in Maine. John and Song Shen married in Shanghai, China, where they run their own business and are raising their two children, Alana and Isaac.
Grace and her daughter Ella moved in with Tim and Marilynn before Ella turned two. If you know Tim, you’ve heard stories about his kids. Tim was fairly private in his faith.
He prayed the rosary daily, and called upon St. Joseph as his patron saint. He was an active member of St. Francis of Assisi Parish for thirty years and served on the finance committee for several years. His other ministries were letter/email writing and contributing to feed the homeless and caring for immigrants.
Tim and his family’s faith and church community helped carry him (and the family) through his final two and a half years while he fought multiple myeloma, a type of bone cancer. As sad as the family is to lose this wonderful, witty, gentle, compassionate man, they are comforted in the knowledge he is reunited with his loved ones who have passed on and as he always reminded us, to continue to “expect good things”. Services will be held Saturday, January 26, 2019, at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Seffner, FL.
Rosary at 10:30 am; Visitation with the family at 11:00 am; Funeral mass at 12:00 pm, with a light reception to follow. In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made to St. Francis’ Wednesday Dinner ministry, or the Peanut Butter & Jelly ministry (please designate).
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