Obituary of Shane Jordan Paszcza
Our beloved son, Shane Jordan Paszcza passed away December 2nd 2022, after a long and ongoing battle with substance use disorder. Shane was 25 years young.
Under the veil of addiction and mental health challenges that Shane faced for the past nine years, he was a young man who, like everyone else in this world wanted to find purpose in life, to find love and be loved in return.
Shane always had a kind, tender nature and a soft spot for animals of all shapes and sizes. Once, he rescued a broken song bird that had run into our window. He gently placed its tiny body into a little box and covered it with some cloth. He sat with it, his hand tirelessly hovering a hair’s breadth above it, hoping with all his hope that the bird would live, that somehow his spirit, his aura, could help fix the bird. Then he spent the next 10 minutes chasing a wild bird all over the house trying to shoo it out the door.
In junior high he took a learning assessment and they discovered he was reading at university two level. His love of reading was matched by a love of music, writing raps and poetry. This led the way to a fascination with learning to play instruments like the harmonica, mouth harp, thumb piano or beats on a hand drum. Shane would also spend hours perfecting the art of Mongolian throat singing. In his younger years he had a goofy wit about him and loved making others laugh with a joke or one of his new crazy hats. He loved playing video games, camping, girls and eating peanut butter and drinking milk by the gallon. Did we mention pie? There was no safe pie in the hands of Shane.
In his recent years he loved collecting clothes he would find in his travels, bags and bags of clothes. Many days he would bring by someone he had met, usually a young woman who perhaps shared some of his struggles. He would let them go through his clothing collection and send them off with whatever it was they wanted or needed, never asking for recognition or thanks, because he was giving and had a big heart.
Shane is survived by his parents, Chris and Sunni Paszcza. His two younger brothers Michael and Blake; many special grandparents as well aunts; uncles and cousins. Shane stayed in the hearts of many old friends and made new along the way. Even though we never had the chance to say goodbye, Shane spent the last two years with us, warm and loved, and we were able to see him every day. We will spend each and every day for the rest of our lives trying to pick up the pieces of our broken hearts. We will miss his smiles, his laughter, his hugs. We will miss, we will cry, but we will never forget.
You found your wings Shane. Now fly free.
In lieu of flowers, donations of socks, mitts, hats and warm weather gear have been gratefully accepted for Safe Harbour Society in memory of Shane. A small way to help someone else’s someone facing the same challenges.
Condolences to Shane’s family may be emailed to meaningful@telus.net. Please indicate Paszcza in the subject line.
Arrangements in care of
Meaningful Memorials Funeral Service
A locally owned cremation and funeral provider
serving Red Deer and all of Central Alberta
587-876-4944