Remembering Paul Mountan

Senator Larkin Congratulates Paul
Mountan of Kingston for receiving the
NYS Senate's 2002 Achiever's Award

Today I found out an old friend passed away. Every year I get a reminder for my friend Norton's birthday - his real name is Paul. but I always knew him as Norton. Every year I call him, and if he doesn't answer I leave a message on his voice mail. The past few years he hasn't called me back, and I wondered if something had happened. For some reason this year I decided to call an old office number I had for him, just to see if it was still valid. When I asked for him they told me he had just passed away. I spoke to his good friend Dorothy who gave me all the details.

Here's his obituary:

Paul Mountan of Kingston passed away December 4, 2014 at home after an illness. Born February 3, 1952 in Brooklyn; he is the son of the late Edmund Mountan and Willie Mae Carruth.

A native of the East New York section of Brooklyn; Paul was a staunch advocate for the rights of people with disabilities. Paul was an extremely dedicated staff, working as a Benefits Advisor for the Resource Center for Accessible Living, Inc. in Kingston for many years. Paul's advocacy efforts gained him wide respect from the many people he came in contact with. His legacy is his dedication to his consumers. Paul was the recipient of many awards including several from the New York State Legislature. In addition; Paul was a paralegal and an avid sports fan of both the New York Yankees and Ole Miss Football.

It turns out it wasn't even his birthday, but a two week reminder, that prompted my call.

I knew Paul as a child, since before I can remember. He was friends with my mom and lived with us for a while.

When I was a young - maybe a young teenager, or maybe a little younger - I stayed with him for a while one summer when he lived in Rosendale.

He came to our wedding and I remember we took a long walk on the boardwalk in the morning, before the ceremony.

When Eason was very young we visited him in Kingston. I remember he was struggling with diabetes at the time. Dorothy told me he kept that in control, and survived oral cancer, but died years later from a heart attack in his sleep.

Paul meant a lot to me and he will be missed.

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Update on 6/7/2015: We went to the Walkway Over the Hudson to pay respects to Paul Mountan, a.k.a. Norton and disperse his ashes over the Hudson. We think that this is what Norton would have wanted.

The walkway was beautiful. Dispersing Norton's ashes was obviously sad, but it was nice to meet with his friends and exchange memories.