George Paul Canales

GEORGE PAUL CANALES, 83, of Hollis Center, died unexpectedly on September 17, 2025, at Maine Medical Center, due to multiorgan failure brought on by COVID & pneumonia, complicating preexisting kidney and heart disease.
George was born August 26, 1942 in Portland, the son of George A. and Emma (Smith) Canales. He graduated South Portland High School in 1961where he was on the board of the Executive Committee, a Varsity football player, in addition to basketball, track, weight lifting and holding the title of "Best Dressed". George's senior quote was: "From Ambition Spirit Rises."
After high school he enrolled in Maine Vocational Technical Institute (currently called SMVTI) in South Portland, in the Building-Construction trade, and was on the Varsity baseball team. At that time, George would also meet and marry Beverly (King) now Fletcher.
In the summer of 1963, George and Beverly would decide to join his father, George, and his wife Nancy and their family, as well as George's oldest sister, Diane (Canales) Grant and her family out in Chula Vista, CA, where he would begin a career in the Naval Shipyard NASSCO Shipbuilding located in San Diego. George and Beverly would have two children: George Paul Canales, Jr. and Krista Lynn Canales. Over the next ten years, the experience he gained in the welding and engineering trade and his reputation garnered him the attention of Bechtel corporation, where George would go on to work in the nuclear power industry as a manager/engineer overseeing a work crew, as he traveled six weeks on two weeks off both domestically and internationally for the next thirty years of his life. He lived in Maryland, Michigan, Northern California, Louisiana, North Haven Island, Maine, India and China. His outgoing personality and diversified love of life, i.e., hunting, fishing, golf, all sports, nature, history, gardening, building and construction, served him well, in that the people who worked under him always liked and respected him; and he was an easy to get along with supervisor, while doing his job to the fullest. He was never lonely in these new places he lived for extended periods of time, as his outgoing personality and witty sense of humor meant that he always made a best friend in every city that he worked in.
George was a loyal supporter and 32nd degree member of the Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite Freemasons of the Southern Jurisdiction of the U.S. for many, many years. He was also descended from the Mayflower on his mother's side of the family.
In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by a sister, Linda, and his son, George P. Jr., as well as three nephews: Tom and Butch Grant, and Steven Howard Surviving: Ex-wife, Beverly Fletcher, Daughter, Krista Canales and partner Michael Esty of Falmouth, a sister, Charlotte (Canales) and her husband Edward Carroll of Massachusetts, and their three children Lisa, Christine and Edward Jr. CDR-USNR RET, of Massachusetts. Another sister,
Diane (Canales) Grant, and her daughter Terri (Grant)Supinger, as well as her two sons Scott and Eric, all of California, and a niece, Deborah Howard of New Hampshire, and two grandchildren: Meagan E. Dyer, and Sierra J. Leone of Washington state.
The family thanks the staff at Northern Light Mercy Hospital and Maine Medical Center Hospital for the patient and loving care given to George over the three weeks George was in their care.
Services will be held at Dolby, Blais & Segee, 35 Church St, Westbrook, ME, at 11:00 am on October 25, 2025, which will be followed by a Celebration of Life at the Italian Heritage Center in the Davinci room, 40 Westland Ave., Portland, ME 04102. Donations can be made in leu of flowers, to St. Jude's Hospital, as that was a charity near and dear to his heart.