Paul Dorrance Sones, 79, of Harwich, MA, died May 3rd at the Veterans Hospital in West Roxbury. Paul was the beloved husband of Sheila (Walsh) Sones for 53 years. He lived in Harwich on Long Pond for the past fifteen years but raised his family in Carlisle, MA for close to three decades, where he was a mainstay at his kids' sporting events and activities.

The son of the late Lloyd and Elizabeth Taylor Sones, Paul was raised in Montgomery, PA–a small town he dearly loved and stayed connected with for his lifetime. He was active in sports and an avid outdoorsman.

After graduation from Montgomery Clinton High School '54 he attended Penn State for a year, playing varsity lacrosse. He left the school upon being appointed to attend the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Before 1960 graduation, however, Paul was in a plane crash that left him paralyzed.

As a paraplegic, however, he was unstoppable. He enrolled at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana to finish his undergraduate degree where he also participated in a unique program for disabled students. Playing basketball as one of the Fighting Illini "Gizz Kids," Paul toured the world to demonstrate, during a time in which handicapped people were still deemed "useless" in many cultures, how people in wheelchairs can still fully participate in life and even do extraordinary things. Paul was a multiple medal winner at the first Paralympics Games in Rome, 1960, where he excelled at basketball, swimming, archery, decathlon, relays and shot-put.

Paul received his Masters in Engineering at MIT and worked as an aeronautical engineer during a twenty-nine year career with Raytheon's Missile Systems Division in Bedford, MA.

Paul spent his retirement as an avid collector of antiques, traveling with his wife and family across the country, boating and fishing on the lakes throughout the New England that he loved so much.

He is survived by his wife, Sheila; his children Sharlene Sones of Alburtis, PA; Yvonne and husband Bruce Hensinger of Alburtis, PA; Paula Sones of Newton, MA; William and wife Rachel Sones of Concord, MA. He found great joy in his grandchildren: Alexandra Beaupre; Thomas (Chip) Beaupre, Jr.; Brandon & Megan Hensinger; Brooke and Ryan Martin; and, the youngest grandchildren, Connor and Cameron Sones.

. . . . Services [were] offered on Friday, May 8th at 8:00 am at Nickerson-Bourne Funeral Home in Sandwich, burial [followed] in the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne, with full military honors.

The family suggest memorials be made in Paul's name, in lieu of flowers, to the Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA.org) or Fisher House (fisherhouse.org), which both had great meaning for Paul.

(Excerpted from an obituary published in The Cape Codder--Brewster, MA--in May 2015)