GREENE — When World War II pilot Jim Paradis, 94, spoke to Greene Central School students Tuesday about Pearl Harbor and his life, his friend and school education technician Maureen Calcagni coaxed Paradis to share a bit about his late wife.
Or rather, his unusual marriage proposal.
“He met his future wife in the sixth grade,” Calcagni said to surprised sixth-graders. The two corresponded while Paradis served in the military. Calcagni asked Paradis to tell students how he proposed.
He grinned, admitted he was “kind of a smart alec. I wrote her a letter asking how would she like to wash my socks for the rest of her life?”
The class laughed.
“She said ‘yes,'” Paradis said.
That produced more laughter.
Jim and Rita Paradis were married for 61 years. They had two sons. While he was an Air Force test pilot, they moved around the country. “She loved it,” Paradis said.
Paradis lives with his son in Monmouth. He drives a car with a “Pearl Harbor Survivor” Maine license plate. Those plates are only issued to Pearl Harbor survivors, Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap said Tuesday. There are only six of those plates active today, he said.
— Bonnie Washuk
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- Greene Central School education technician Maureen Calcagni stands next to WWII pilot Jim Paradis of Monmouth at the school Tuesday.
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