Penn Hamilton Mason

Penn Hamilton Mason, 37, of Portland, Oregon, died on September 4, 2017. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut on January 21, 1980. In 1992, his family moved from Madison, Connecticut to Hinsdale, Illinois, where he attended middle school and high school. Penn graduated from Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology in 2002.

After graduation, Penn moved to California for two years to explore the west coast. He returned to Illinois and began nursing studies and moved to Portland, Oregon in 2011 to work in the healthcare field. He was working at the Unity Center for Behavioral Health as a Behavioral Health Assistant at the time of his death.

Like so many of his Portland friends, Penn loved to be outdoors, walking in the city parks, hiking the Columbia Gorge, and exploring the beaches of the Oregon Coast. He practiced yoga and meditation and believed strongly in the value of eating organic and being mindful and present. Penn was an avid biker and biked throughout the city, including work, errands and for fun.

Penn will be remembered for his care and compassion for those who were hurting and in need of a good listener. He was very concerned about fairness and equal treatment for all people. He read his favorite book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirsig, five times, and read Alan Watts and other philosophers regularly. He liked to discuss real-life applications of philosophical principles with his friends and family and had a perceptive and gentle wit.

He is survived by his parents, Robert and Carol Mason of Lake Oswego, Oregon, and his brother Nathaniel and nephew, Rhys, of Wayne, Pennsylvania.

Services for the family will be private.