Obituary of George Michael "Mickey" Paine

Friends and family are gathering Friday, June 24, 2022 to celebrate the life of George Michael "Mickey" Paine, of Marysville, an activist and community volunteer who passed away June 11, 2022 at the age of 87. Born in Sacramento on April 22, 1935, Michael Paine moved with his parents to Marysville in 1936, when his father accepted a job he would hold for more than three decades as a teacher and athletic coach at Marysville High School. Michael recalled growing up with fond memories of Marysville, including gawking at the brightly colored clothing and bedazzling ornaments worn by the women in the gypsy camp that appeared annually at Motor Park at 14th and H streets; waking one morning to discover a circus set up in the vacant lot outside his bedroom window on West 17th Street; playing and hunting in the swampy jungle on land now occupied by The Appeal-Democrat newspaper, working at a peach grading station in the summers, and seeing then President Harry Truman and his daughter, Margaret, during a political tour at the train station at Third and I streets on a Sunday morning in October of 1952. He played basketball, tennis, and track at Marysville High School, where he graduated in 1952. He earned a Bachelor's Degree from San Francisco State University, and a Master's Degree from the School of Italian and French at the University of Southern California. He served in the Army National Guard in the late 1950s. An adventurer who acquired his first of eight passports at age 18, he took full advantage of every employee air fare discount he could get from Trans World Airlines, where he worked in the sales department from 1966 to 1999, to travel to dozens of European cities. He enjoyed sailing, scuba diving, martial arts, golf, fly fishing, hiking, bird watching, mountain climbing, and photography. He was a voracious reader (he left behind a large library of books on topics ranging from philosophy to the history of paper) and kept a daily journal of his life from his late teens until age 85. He lived in San Francisco and Los Angeles while working for the airline company, and then lived briefly in Tucson, Ariz., after his retirement. He returned to Marysville in 2001 and became involved in the community, serving on the Marysville Planning Commission and the Yuba County Historic Preservation Commission, and on the boards of directors of the Yuba County Library Advisory Board, Friends of the Packard Library, Bridges to Housing, and Yuba-Sutter Arts and Culture. A past president of the Yuba-Sutter Democratic Club, he was a member of the Yuba County Democratic Central Committee and a volunteer poll worker during elections. Survivors include his son, Mike Smith of Las Vegas; a step-brother, Gary Johns of Sacramento; nieces Leisa Reed and Jacque Davis of Yuba City, Lori Reed of Marysville, Andrea Johnson-Kumar of Sacramento; Andrea's husband, Surranjan Kumar; nephew Kevin Reed of Marysville; grandchildren; and several great nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his father, George R. Paine, a native of South Africa; his mother, Helen Marie Brillhart Paine, a native of Ohio; his step-mother, Dorothy Johns Paine; his sister, Sondra "Pee Wee" Paine; a step-sister, Suzette Johns Yorton; and a niece, Georgette Davis Alcocer. A celebration of the life of George Michael "Mickey" Paine is planned for 4 p.m. Friday, June 24, 2022 at the Yuba-Sutter Arts and Culture Lee Burrows Theatre at 7th and E Streets in Marysville. Final arrangements are under the direction of Ullrey Memorial Chapel in Yuba City.