Protodeacon Paul Erickson fell asleep in the Lord on November 8, 2022.
Paul Joseph Erickson was born June 12, 1954, in Lansing Michigan to Sydney (Sid) Erickson and Leola (Lee) LaMourie Erickson. Paul was the fourth of nine children. He attended the Catholic Church and Catholic parochial schools until the age of about 15. He completed his sophomore year of high school then left both school and home. He began his travels to see the United States as a hitchhiker and independent young man until he found a new religious group called the Holy Order of Mans (HOOM).
While in the brotherhood, Paul had a variety of jobs including being the bookkeeper and learning to cook. He also got a driver’s license and a GED. Paul remained in this brotherhood for about 10 years, leaving shortly before he married Julia Williams on December 19, 1981.
Shortly after leaving “the Order” he joined the non-vowed portion of the HOOM called the Christian Community of Portland, OR. He also joined up with his brother, Jim, to start a business: Erickson’s Plastering.
In the early years of their marriage, Paul continued to run Erickson’s Plastering, be a busy dad, coach soccer, and serve the church in any way that he could. He was janitor, builder, plasterer, and parish council president for a group that was becoming Orthodox and would become the Church of the Annunciation in Milwaukie, OR. He served as president of the parish council for about 12 years as the group rapidly grew from 10 to over 250 members. He took his conversion to Orthodox very seriously. His home became a place where the Orthodox faith was read about, talked about, and prayed about. Sundays after Church, guests were lovingly welcomed to the Erickson home and served the house specialty: oatmeal pancakes.
On the Feast of the Elevation of the Cross in 1995, Paul was ordained a deacon. He actively served as a deacon at the Church of the Annunciation in Milwaukie, OR until 1997; at Saint Paul’s Orthodox Church in Las Vegas, NV until 2005; and at Saint Nicholas Church in Juneau, AK until 2016. Saint Nicholas Church was particularly challenging as for many years there was not a priest to serve the parish, so Deacon Paul stepped in to serve as deacon-in-charge.
Few knew that in the fall of 2007 in Juneau, Protodeacon Paul sustained a serious head trauma which knocked him unconscious for more than 30 minutes. This appeared to be his most detrimental injury since a serious car accident in 1982. After 2007, he continued to have a nearly yearly head trauma until November 2015, when yet another head trauma forced him to seek disability and move “down south.”
After a short time in Ohio, Protodeacon Paul and Julia moved to Clarksville, AR in 2019, where they were met by the loving arms of family and a welcoming church. In January 2016, Paul was formally diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. The disease progressed quickly and soon his family was unable to give him all the care he needed. The disease also left him unable to care for himself or to serve the Church or the family he loved so dearly. In October 2021, he moved to residential care. By July 2022, he was admitted to hospice care.
Protodeacon Paul loved his family, including his wife, Julia; his six children, Lee, Christopher, Anna, Mary, Macrina, and Rebecca; and his two grandchildren, Elizabeth and Jacob. He loved to serve the Church and others.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Alzheimer’s Association, the Lewy Body Dementia Association, or your favorite charity in Protodeacon Paul’s name.
Services will be held at 10:00 AM Saturday, November 12, in Holy Apostles Orthodox Church, 15701 S. Peoria Ave., Bixby, OK officiated by Father Ambrose Arrington. Interment will follow in the Holy Apostles Orthodox Church Cemetery.
May Protodeacon Paul’s memory be eternal!