Paul Beasley Faulkner

A service honoring his life is planned at 1:30 p.m., Saturday, July 9, at The Hills church, North Richland Hills Campus, in North Richland HIlls, Texas, preceded by a private burial at Laurel Land.

Depending on the era, Faulkner’s friends and colleagues may remember him as a teacher, minister, colleague, or the much taller half of the Marriage Enrichment Seminar he began with his college roommate and friend Carl Brecheen. To others he was the freshman Bible professor who could command a full house in Abilene Christian University’s Cullen Auditorium. Others knew him in his second career as founder of Resources for Living, an employee assistance counseling service.

His oldest friends remembered the champion javelin thrower and pole vaulter whose championships included wins or ties three times in his events at the Texas Relays, once at the Drake Relays and twice at the Kansas Relays. He helped the Wildcats win Texas Conference track and field team championships three straight seasons (1950-52) and was inducted into the ACU Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.

Inevitably, they remember his voice — big, deep, slow and likely to burst into a long, head-shaking laugh at himself at any moment.

Faulkner was born Sept. 24, 1929, in Fort Worth. He was the youngest of four children born to Fred and Consuelo Faulkner. A high school track star at Paschal High School, he was headed to Rice University when his older sister persuaded him to go to then Abilene Christian College. He often recalled that she persisted late into the night on the subject until he finally told her, “Fine. If you’ll let me go to bed, I’ll go to ACC.”

At ACC he began dating fellow Paschal graduate Gladys Shoemaker and they married July 12, 1952, after completing their degrees. And at ACC he met the other great partner of his life, Carl Brecheen, as they walked to church from their dormitory the first week of their freshman year.

He earned a master’s degree from ACU in 1961, and later earned master’s and doctoral degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1966 and 1968, majoring in psychology. He was a licensed marriage and family therapist and a clinical and supervisory member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy, founding the Marriage and Family Institute at ACU in 1979. For many years, the Institute was one of only two nationally accredited marriage and family therapy programs in Texas.

Before and even after joining ACU as a faculty member and for seven years as dean of men, he preached for Churches of Christ in Kansas, North Carolina and Texas.

In 1974, he and his life-long friend Brecheen conducted their first Marriage Enrichment Seminar. Five years later, a seminar at the Abilene Civic Center that drew 1,600 in attendance was videotaped and became part of a video series seen by more than 2 million people worldwide. Over 32 years they conducted seminars in 33 states and seven countries.

He retired from the ACU faculty in 1992 after 35 years there but continued teaching as an adjunct professor after founding Resources for Living, a counseling and consulting service for major American businesses including WalMart, Mclane Trucking, and Kroger Grocery Stores. His syndicated, one-minute radio broadcast, “Making Life Work for your Family,” was heard on more than 600 stations nationally and he spoke for seminars and national conventions of numerous corporations.

In 1996, he moved the company to Austin and he and Gladys settled in nearby Dripping Springs where they purchased a home on a small ranch they called Cypress Springs. He sold the company in 2008 and retired again.

A passion in the last 30 years of his life was supporting minister couples through the Ministers’ Renewal Workshop, a weekend retreat he and Gladys conducted with three other couples, welcoming couples whose life in ministry brought stress or pain that often could not be shared in the churches where they served. The workshops provided a time of healing and counsel. The Ministers’ Support Network, a part of ACU’s Siburt Institute, is heir to that ministry.

Faulkner Meditation Garden, an outdoor contemplative space alongside Lunsford Foundation Trail and Faubus Fountain Lake at ACU, was dedicated in 2019 to honor the ministry of Paul and Gladys.

He was honored with the ACU trustees Teacher of the Year Award in 1982. He and Brecheen, together with their wives, received ACU’s Christian Service Award in 2001. He also received Distinguished Christian Service Awards from Harding and Pepperdine Universities and an honorary doctorate from Pepperdine. His publications include three books, one of which was co-authored with Brecheen.

Of all his accomplishments, his family was most important. He made every effort to build relationship, provide place and space for gathering, celebrating, playing, laughing and conversation. He and Gladys traveled the globe with their grandchildren and attended every sporting and musical event they could.

He was preceded in death by his wife Gladys, his parents, two sisters and a brother. He is survived by two daughters and two sons and their spouses: Debbie and Randy Clinton of Keller; Von and Dorsi Faulkner of Austin, Brad and Denise Faulkner of Henderson, and Connie and Larry Brown of Flower Mound. He is also survived by eight grandchildren: Michael and Nick Catanese, Dylan Faulkner, Hunter and Jessica Clinton, Charles and Hailey Rotenberry, Corban and Haley Brown, Daniel and Brenna Brown, Ashton and Cris Bruyere and Zane Faulkner; and by seven great grandchildren: Caden and Charlee Catanese, Campbell and Ford Rotenberry, Violet and Kit Clinton and Archie Brown.

Those wishing to honor his memory may do so by loving and caring for their families, and supporting the marriages and families of others around them, and by a gift to the Paul and Gladys Faulkner Center for Marriage and Family (ACU Box 29132, Abilene, Texas 79699-9132.)