Storke Funeral Home Obituaries

Paul Lyman Lysher was able to lay down his cross of pain and suffering on July 25, 2022. He died after a courageous battle with bile duct liver cancer (diagnosed in April 2020) which also claimed his dad’s (Leon’s) life in November 2018. His mom, Martha, lost her struggle with breast cancer in March 1997. 

Paul was born two minutes after his beloved twin brother, Peter Leon, on April 12,1955 and was baptized on April 24th at St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Three years later, Leon would uproot his young family and move to Dahlgren to accept a position as a physicist. 

As a youngster, Paul was a gifted athlete and showed great promise as a baseball pitcher. Unfortunately, he was stricken with a near fatal muscular disease, dermatomyositis, at the age of nine. After five years of perseverance, arduous medical treatment at NIH and countless prayers, he was able to survive his first serious health challenge.

At King George High School, Paul served as a manager for the varsity basketball and football teams and, as a senior, was a member of both the track and baseball teams. He graduated as Valedictorian of the Class of 1973.

After receiving a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Virginia in 1977 and working as a student athletic trainer for the soccer and lacrosse teams, Paul attended the Medical College of Virginia receiving a B.S. in physical therapy in 1982.

Paul took his first job at Mary Washington Hospital working for Patricia Carmichael who was an invaluable mentor to him before he co-founded the first outpatient physical therapy practice (OSPTA) in Fredericksburg, with Brian D’Orazio in 1983.

In his thirty-eight years of physical therapy service, Paul also worked with Flo Woolfolk of Therapy Services of Virginia in Orange, VA and Aaron Rathgeb of Integrated Health in Fredericksburg before opening a private practice in his hometown of King George in 2015. This endeavor was a culmination of a lifetime goal to care for family, friends and the active/retired civilian and military personnel at the NSWC at Dahlgren.

Paul was a devout Roman Catholic and credited his faith for the strength and courage to endure the struggles and sufferings he encountered during his life. Mother Teresa, with whom he was a pen-pal and later met on several occasions on her travels to Washington D.C., had a powerful impact on his personal and professional life. Fr. John Cregan was also instrumental as a spiritual director and urged Paul to accept those things in his life that couldn’t be changed and to follow the inspiring example of St. Maximillian Kolbe to love others and to lay down one’s life for them.

Paul was an avid wildlife photographer traveling to Alaska to capture images of bald eagles and grizzly bears, Yellowstone for elk and bison and Maine for moose.

Paul is survived by his immediate family Mary Rita and Kolbe Charles Lysher; his siblings Peter Lysher (Rita), John Lysher (Carol), Judith Ann Lysher Madison (Ben); and stepmother Anne Lysher.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made (in memory of Paul Lysher) to any local Catholic Church or to the Missionaries of Charity founded by Mother Teresa at the following address:

Missionaries of Charity
335 East 145^th Street
Bronx, New York 10451

A celebration of life will be held at 4:00 pm Sunday, July 31, 2022 at the King George Middle School, the family will receive friends from 3 – 4 p.m. prior to the service.  A rosary, funeral Mass and burial will be held at St. Ignatius Roman Catholic Church, Chapel Point, MD on Monday, August 1, 2022. Rosary will begin at 9:15 am with Mass to follow at 10:00 am and burial immediately afterwards in the church cemetery.