Longtime Bath resident celebrates 100th birthday

by Laura Bednar

Edward Paul has lived a life of service to his church, his country and his community, and on Nov. 9, he celebrated his 100th birthday.

The longtime Bath resident has lived at Concordia at Sumner retirement community in Copley for the last three years, where his centennial party took place. The receiving line stretched down the hallway and didn’t shorten after three hours. Paul’s daughter, Cindy, said at least 175 people offered birthday wishes.

“Some people I hadn’t seen for years,” said Paul.

Paul was born in Akron’s North Hill neighborhood in the family home. He said he was taken to the former St. Thomas Hospital shortly after birth because he had pneumonia. His father built the family a home in Cuyahoga Falls, and Paul attended Broad Street Elementary School. Paul said often older and younger grades shared the same room, the younger kids learning upper level material.

During the Great Depression, Paul said, “It was very tight.” His father maintained some projects as a general contractor, but the family struggled to make ends meet. His family had a garden in the backyard, “just to survive,” said Paul, which included produce like corn, beans and cucumbers. At the time, Paul was the youngest of three, but years later he gained a brother and sister.

To do his part, Paul sold magazines after school such as the Saturday Evening Post and Ladies Home Journal. “If you made 10 cents a week you had more money than most of your buddies,” said Paul. He later took on a newspaper route, which paid better.

After graduating from Cuyahoga Falls High School in 1943, during World War II, he was drafted by the Navy. He spent three years in the service, most of it at sea on the USS Tripoli CVE-64, an aircraft carrier. His unit was training off the West Coast to join the battle, but after fuel inadvertently spilled in front of their ship, someone lit a cigarette and the ship caught fire, precluding them from joining the conflict in the Pacific.

On the Tripoli, Paul was in the aerology department, which was the study of the atmosphere. He monitored the weather for his ship to safely navigate the seas and advised military pilots if they could safely land their planes on the aircraft carrier. The crew also patrolled the waters for submarines, traveling as far as Cape Town, Africa.

While in the Atlantic, Paul said he survived a tropical storm so powerful the ship stood on end and slammed back into the water. The aerology department suggested a change in course by one hour to avoid the storm, but their warnings were not heeded.

In another harrowing experience, the ship scraped the side of an iceberg in Newfoundland. Paul recalled being trapped in his bunk when the ship sealed off compartments to prevent taking on water.

Before embarking on his weather-related duties, Paul worked with the radar unit to detect aircrafts. “We were part of the development of early radar,” he said.

After the war, Paul attended Kent State University and bought his first car, a Model A Sedan for $350. There were fewer than 3,000 students at the time. He graduated in three years, studying accounting and finance. When he found that the monthly pay in that field was on a par with the weekly pay of a ditch digger, he decided to work for his father in the construction industry.

His time in college led him to his wife, Eileen. The couple, who sometimes referred to themselves as “Double E’” for their names, were married for almost 65 years before she died. They had two children, Cindy and Mark Paul, who live nearby, along with most of the family. Paul has three grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren with another due in January.

He became a partner in his father’s company but eventually opened his own business, Edward J. Paul Builders Inc. He built residential and commercial buildings throughout Ohio. “We moved 10 times in the first 10 years of our marriage,” said Paul. Every time the family moved, Paul built the family a new house.

The family lived in Silver Lake for over 20 years before settling in Bath around 1978. One of Paul’s Bath clients was selling her home on Sand Run Road, which Paul’s company had updated over the years. Paul bought it and the property next door and went to work building an addition and garages to store equipment for his company.

“Everything I did [on the house] I ended up owning,” Paul said.

Paul said he enjoyed his time in Bath, including bird watching in his yard. His children enjoyed playing in the woods around the property. Paul noted that over the years, Bath grew and became more developed.

No matter where he lived, Paul was involved in the local Lutheran church. Some of his parishes included Concordia Lutheran in Akron, Redeemer Lutheran in Cuyahoga Falls and Fairlawn Lutheran. When he wasn’t working, he was a youth director, Sunday school teacher and deacon. He didn’t teach adult classes until he was in his 60s. Paul also spent a term as general chairman for a religious youth convention at Miami University, which has grown from 3,000 kids to 30,000.

In their golden years, Paul and his wife traveled around the United States, including Alaska and Colorado, and internationally to Russia and Scandinavia and were temporarily stranded in Ireland in 2001 following the Sept. 11 attacks when air travel was delayed.

“We spent part of 17 winters in Puerto Rico,” added Paul.

When asked to what he attributes his longevity, Paul said, “The good Lord looked after me all the way.” ∞

Main photo: Ed Paul celebrated his 100th birthday at his retirement home with over 175 people visiting to share their birthday wishes. Photo by Laura Bednar.