Timothy Thayer Paxton

Timothy Thayer Paxton, formerly of Chartiers Township, Washington County, died unexpectedly in December in a house he owned in Rainsburg, Bedford County.

Mr. Paxton, 66, of Everett, Bedford County, was an accomplished artist who spent his career as an architect in New Haven, Conn., among other locations, before moving decades ago to Bedford County, where his parents George G. and Bonnie Jean McCracken Paxton were living.

He was born Feb. 8, 1959, in Washington Hospital, and was raised on the Paxton family farm. As a teenager, he designed the Springhouse farm market building and the market sign that still stands along Route 136. In high school, he was selected to attend the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts at Bucknell University, with noted Washington County artist — the late Ray Forquer — serving as his art teacher and mentor. A 1977 graduate of Chartiers-Houston High School, Mr. Paxton then graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh as a registered professional architect before taking a position with the Yale University Department of Architecture. Afterward, he accepted a position with the firm of Cesar Pelli, the noted Argentine-American architect who designed some of the world’s tallest buildings among other major urban structures. Under Pelli, Mr. Paxton participated in architectural projects at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Princeton University and Cleveland Clinic.

Mr. Paxton’s career eventually led him to Havre de Grace, Md., then Hollidaysburg, Blair County, before he turned his focus to designing new homes and restoring historic structures in Central Pennsylvania and West Virginia. His freelance efforts involved projects as far away as Lagos, Nigeria.

Landscape drawings and paintings of rural Bedford County were the main focus of his artwork. He spent considerable time hiking through and studying nature, with reading, music, gardening, and Volkswagen GTI’s as other interests. He always had a pet dog at his side.

He is survived by two sisters, Aliceann Christy of Green Valley, Ariz.; and Suellen Templeton of Mt. Pleasant Township, Washington County; and four brothers: George G. Paxton of South Lebanon, Ohio; John M. Paxton of Everett, Bedford County; James C. Paxton of Meyersdale, Somerset County; and William R. Paxton of Chartiers Township; and numerous nieces and nephews. He also is survived by his longtime friend and fellow artist Barbara (Loshaw) Bittner of Bedford.

Plans for a memorial celebration of Mr. Paxton’s life are incomplete. Arrangements by the Timothy A. Berkebile Funeral Home in Bedford. Our online guest book is available at www.berkebilefuneralhome.com.