Reverend George Hammond

Reverend Doctor Paul G. Hammond was joyfully received in Heaven by His Lord and Savior on the morning of September 6th, 2023 with his beloved wife by his side in the Upstate Medical University Hospital Neuro ICU. The family thanks the doctors, nurses and staff for their skills in caring for him, and their tender concern for the family.

Paul was born June 13, 1933, in Soldiers and Sailors Hospital in Penn Yan, New York and raised in Penn Yan by his parents Ford Cassius Hammond and Evangel Johnson Hammond, daughter of Rev. G. Frank and Lillian Whitney Johnson.

Paul attended Penn Yan Academy and graduated from St. Francis DeSales High School in Geneva, NY in 1952. He played football and lacrosse for Penn Yan and had his nose broken in a box lacrosse game on the Indian Reservation.

He served in the US Army Security Agency during the Korean War and at Fort Bragg, NC. After his meritorious Army service, Paul attended Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC where he quickly earned a B.A. and a M.A. He was ordained at the Springdale Baptist Church, Taylors SC. He earned a M.S. in Psychology from the State University of NY at Brockport and a Ph.D. in Christian Counseling from the Christian Bible College in Rocky Mount, NC.
Paul was a humble man who never flaunted his degrees and his knowledge. The Ph.D. was his tribute to his father who 'only' had an 8th grade education yet had more practical knowledge and spiritual insight than many.

Paul was 5th in his class at the NYS Trooper Academy, worked the Thruway detail, spent several years in the Narcotics Division and in the Bureau of Criminal Investigation as an Investigator. He wanted to stay in "the country."

After a period working in the Poughkeepsie area, he said: "You can't take the country out of the boy, and this boy is going back to the country as soon as he can" so he returned to the Finger Lakes region to live and work.

Paul was married to Barbro Viktoria Jenny Koraen, born in Sweden, who immigrated legally to the United States on August 8, 1964, and worked for the US Olympic Ski Team as a translator.

Paul leaves behind his adoring wife of 47 years, Jenny; his daughter Barbara Regan, and her son Jonathan Magill and daughter Elizabeth [Ken] and grandson Franklin; his daughter Virginia Riolo [Joseph] and her children Julie Nau [Nick] and their children Heilee, Evan, and Claire; daughter Andrea Bradley [Brent] and their children Abigail and Timothy; her son Paul Howdyshell, Jr., [Maggie] and their daughters Ella, Olivia, Adeline, and Hadleigh; his daughter Kathleen Hammond who served six years in the US Air Force; and his son Scott Hammond who served 26 years in the US Army, doing two tours of duty in Iraq, and other US Army destinations, making his father very proud; and his beloved nephew and special hunting buddy, Steven Smith [Mary Clare], son of Paul's sister Necia Smith [Donald], their children Allison, Andrew, and Kelly, along with their spouses and children.
After disability retirement from the NYS Police in 1980, Paul developed several hobbies – ham [amateur] radio, landscape photography, jewelry repair, clock building and repair, and like his father, he could fix and repair almost everything. He loved to explore, and with his wife, traveled in most of the states in the US and Mexico, as well as their travels in Sweden and Norway.

Paul served as Pastor of the Cheshire Community Church, Cheshire, NY; Chaplain at the Canandaigua, New York Veterans Administration; as a Marriage Counselor in NY and in McAllen, TX, Sunday School teacher, Bible Study leader, and Partner Studies leader. He pastored the Tropic Star RV Park church, while counseling pastor of First Baptist, McAllen. Paul and his wife served as missionaries in the Yucatán Peninsula and as Southern Baptist missionaries in Mexico. They were the ham radio communication link for the missionaries in Mexico from McAllen, Texas. The ARMS net, a Christian international ham radio group was very important to him, praying with other Christians on a regular basis. He and his wife were also members of several other ham radio clubs, especially the Adirondacks 'Bear Bait' club of Old Forge, and Baldwinsville, NY.

Paul served as Board Chairman of the Finger Lakes Alcoholism and Referral Agency, FLACRA, was a member of the National Association of Evangelicals – Chaplains commission, a member of the Greater Rochester Association of Evangelicals, a member of the Canandaigua Clergy Association, acting as president from 1987-1988, a member of the National Association of the Veterans Administration Chaplains, and a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors.

He was a staunch defender of the 2nd Amendment and strongly supported the efforts to keep the English Common Law of self-defense, "protecting my castle", one of the pillars on which the American Constitution is built.

Another of Paul's lifelong hobbies was deer hunting with his brother-in-law, his nephew, and their friends. He fished on Long Island, in Canada, in New England and other places with his friends and climbed the high mountains of the Adirondacks and Norway with his wife.

The funeral will take place at Lakeshore Baptist Church, 6696 Lakeshore Drive, Cicero, NY 13039 on Friday, September 15th with calling hours from 3PM to 4PM. The service is at 4PM with a fellowship time afterwards.

Interment will be in Lake View Cemetery, Penn Yan on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Contributions in Paul's name may be made to:
* 2nd Amendment Coalition
* Outreach ministry of Lakeshore Baptist Church
* Tunnel to Towers Foundation (T2T)