William Joseph Paulits Sr.

William J. Paulits Sr., a loyal husband, father and grandfather, proud union laborer, lover of the shore and gifted storyteller, died peacefully Saturday Nov. 18, 2023, at his home surrounded by family. He was 90.

Bill to his friends and family, Pop or Pops to his grandkids, Poppy to his great-grandchildren, he was the 12th of 13 children born to Anna and Joseph Paulits, German-speaking immigrants from Hungary. They started their family life in Virginia, founding a bakery, and in the 1920s moved to Philadelphia, where Bill was born.

With a proud look in his eye, he used to say his parents owned a washing machine before most people in the neighborhood, and his family wanted for little because of the success of their bakery. A specialty was their “George Washington” cake, made of all the previous day’s leftovers that enticed people to line up around the block and cinnamon buns that Bill remembered were smothered in raisins and walnuts.

There was tragedy, though, too.

Anna died when Bill was 8 years old, and hard times fell on the family. Bill remembered his siblings raising him and went to Philadelphia public schools until the 9th grade, where his best scores were in mechanical drawing and art. A yearbook excerpt from his final year showed he was noted for being an “exceptional lover” and wanted to be a “toothpick carver.” His good sense of humor developed early.

“He had a great laugh. When he laughed, you’d laugh too,” his son Bill said recently. “It didn’t matter if you knew what the punchline was.”

At 15, he went to work at a rug mill as a bobbin boy – his small frame suited to working in tight spaces.

He never dwelled on hard times and if he ever felt sorry for himself, it was impossible to tell.

He played the lottery hopefully and turned the news on eagerly every day.

He was fascinated by unfolding political stories and world events. He knew the weather forecast faithfully. He munched on cashews, macadamias and other snacks that bewildered his grandchildren. He enjoyed – let’s be honest – cheap beer earlier in his life and red wine later.

In June 1955 he married Dorothy Kuropatwa, the love of his life. He called her “Honey” so regularly his elder daughter Kathleen wrote down “Honey” on a school form asking for her mother’s name.

They were inseparable, partners in life and on the dance floor when they took up country western dancing.

Earning $54 a week, they made their home on Naples Street in Philadelphia and eventually began a lifelong love of trailer camping in Cape May County, New Jersey. Bill loved combing the beach for hidden treasures and crabbing and fishing off piers. He could walk for hours in the surf, and that’s frequently when he unwound his stories.

Once when he was a teenager, he said, he and friends thought it’d be nice to go to California, so they hopped on a bus eventually making it to the Pacific Ocean before their money ran out and they came back.

Bill worked at the Budd auto part maker in Philadelphia before joining the Laborers’ International Union of North America as a construction worker. He kept every union card he was issued through the years and was proud to have worked on the subway under Philadelphia City Hall and Somerset Station. He credited the union with providing him a pension and teaching him a trade.

Bill loved his children, son William “Bill,” and daughters Kathleen and Karen, with whom he shared his love of the New Jersey shore and whose crinkled photos he kept in plastic sleeves in his wallet until the day he died.

A cloud again fell over Bill’s life when his youngest child Karen died in 1992 of a rare anemia and again in 2013 when Kathleen died of ovarian cancer. Bill kept their memories alive, sharing stories about his girls and remembering them fondly and frequently.

He doted on his grandchildren, Jamie, Mike, Megan and Jenna. And he adored his great-grandchildren Lucy, Jack, Piper, Violet, Owen, Kaiden and Karlie.

Bill was predeceased by his two daughters; parents; and siblings Joseph, Julia, Frank, Steve, John, Mike, Annie, Elizabeth, Paul, Walter and Tommy.

He’s survived by his wife of 68 years, Dorothy; son William and daughter-in-law Belynda; sister Marie; grandchildren Jamie Rupert (Shawn), Mike Catalini (Jacquelyn), Megan Ott (Travis), Jenna Catalini (Frank White); his great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Visitation for family and friends will be held on Monday, November 27, 2023 from 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM at Queen of the Universe, 2443 Trenton Rd, Levittown, PA 19056. The funeral mass will begin at 10:30 AM. Interment will follow at Our Lady of Grace Cemetery, 1215 Super Highway, Langhorne, PA 19047.

In lieu of flowers, Bill asked for donations to the Danny Did Foundation, which works to protect children struggling with epilepsy. Link: https://www.dannydid.org/give/