Paul Tisdale

Paul George Tisdale was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on April 16, 1947 and moved to Columbus, Ohio as a child. After graduating from Bishop Hartley High School in 1965, he proudly served 4 years in the U.S. Navy. He did not talk about his time in Vietnam, beyond joking about peeling potatoes, but his service was remembered on his October 2019 Honor Flight. Upon his return from Vietnam, Paul met his beautiful Mary Kelly in 1970 and married her in 1973. They soon bought their home in Reynoldsburg and became parishioners at St. Pius. Paul graduated from Franklin University and worked in Street Design for the City of Columbus for 33 years until his retirement in 2005. In his retirement, he was a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary at Indian Lake, Ohio. Paul and Mary held season tickets to the Cincinnati Bengals for many years then continued to watch games together on TV. Paul collected 45-RPM records for his juke box, model cars, and car brochures. Paul's humor will live on through his published and doodled cartoons and his logo design for the Columbus Snow Warriors.

Paul and Mary centered their lives on their daughters, Megan and Erin, and their love of dance, music, movies, and all things Irish. He was a long time member of the Shamrock Club and is fondly remembered by many Irish dancers and their parents for his time lugging his large video camera and portable VCR unit to every competition and show, where he was often mistaken for a news crew. His family still cherishes the many holidays, school projects, birthdays, parades, vacations, and hours and hours of Irish dance videos. While he was still able, in April 2000 he traveled to Ireland for Megan to dance in the World Championships. In 2008, Paul welcomed Gary Feiler to the family when Erin was married. Their getaway car was Paul's 1930 Chevrolet, the same car Paul and Mary rode in as newlyweds years before. Paul taught his family resilience, patience, and unconditional love. Knowing both his girls went to college and graduate school was a point of pride. Paul absolutely lit up with joy in watching his grandchildren grow.

Our lives changed in 1996 when Paul suffered a stroke and continued to live with progressing Parkinson's Disease. Mary's love and devotion to him was evident to everyone through her care for him for all these years. His family thanks the staff at Tuscany Gardens for their 4 years of friendship. Paul died from Parkinson's complications on May 2, 2025, with his family and best friend Ted McQuaide around him. Paul made one last act of service donating himself to the Ohio State University College of Medicine.

Paul's absence is mourned by many friends, family, his wife Mary, daughters Megan and Erin (Gary) Feiler, and his favorite people - his beloved grandchildren Henry, Claire, and George.

Calling hours will begin at 10AM on Friday, May 9 followed by an 11AM memorial mass at St. Pius X Catholic Church (1051 South Waggoner Road, Reynoldsburg, Ohio; please note Waggoner Road is open only northbound from Main Street.) Family invites everyone to join us afterwards for lunch at the Shamrock Club (60 West Castle Road, Columbus, Ohio).

As the church will be decorated for First Communion, in lieu of flowers, please consider donating in Paul's memory to Honor Flight Columbus at https://www.honorflightcmh.org/donate-today or The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research at https://tribute.michaeljfox.org/tribute-page.php?id=3190.