The family moved to Edmond in 1925. For 1st through 3rd grades, Paul attended Central Normal School which was housed in Old North Tower on the Central State College Campus. In 4th grade, he entered Edmond Public Schools and graduated from Edmond High School in 1939, where he was active in drama and debate and lettered in football and basketball while working part-time at his father’s Dodge-Plymouth Automobile Agency. In the fall of 1939, he enrolled at Central State College, where he was a member of the Arena Club and the Blue Curtain Players and lettered in football.
In early 1942, he was called to active duty and served three years in the Army Air Corps. He was in the 15th Air Force stationed in Southern Italy. After the war, he returned to Edmond and enrolled at the University of Oklahoma, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity and Phi Delta Phi Legal Fraternity. In 1948, he participated in a Mock Trial before Justices of the Oklahoma Supreme Court on Law Day. He received his LLB from the University of Oklahoma College of Law in 1950. The LLB was later superseded by a JD degree. He was admitted to the Oklahoma Bar on October 17, 1950, on his 29th birthday. Following graduation, he received a commission in the U. S. Air Force Reserves as 1st Lieutenant.
He began in private practice in Edmond in 1951. He served as Grady County Attorney and Assistant Attorney from 1953-61. Paul then became Attorney and Chief Counsel to the Oklahoma Department of Highways from 1962-71. He was Trial Attorney specializing in Eminent Domain with OG&E from l972 to 1982. He then returned to the private practice of law in Edmond from 1983 to 2013. Paul became an expert on Eminent Domain. He conducted many seminars where he trained both right-of-way agents and attorneys on the preparation, filing and processing of the acquisition of easements for the Interstate systems of l-35 and l-40.
Paul was active in civic affairs. While in Chickasha, he served as President of Kiwanis Club, President of the Junior Chamber of Commerce and Commander of the American Legion Post. Paul served on various Edmond city boards and served as Mayor of Edmond from May l989 to May 1991. Paul joined the First Christian Church of Edmond in 1952. In past years he served on the church board, was a Deacon and taught an adult Sunday School class for 40 years.
The five great loves of his life were His Faith, Practicing Law, Golf, OU football and his family. He is survived by his loving wife of 69 years, Carlita (Kemnitz); two sons, John Paul, Jr. and his wife Alexis Downs of Edmond; Mark Lewis and his wife Laura of Austin, Texas; and four grand-children, Page Walters of Edmond, Katie Walters of Houston, Texas, and John Paul lll and Jane of Austin, and his sister, Dorothy Walters of Boulder, CO. He was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Roland, Jr. and Roland’s wife Marie, his sister-in-law Arlene Flynn and brothers-in-law Frank Flynn and Verrol Kemnitz.
A Memorial Service will be held at 11:00 am, Tuesday, March 12th at the First Christian Church of Edmond in the chapel. A private inurnment will be held at the Mausoleum at Memorial Park Cemetery.
Memorials In honor of Paul may be made to Breakfast on Boulevard, First Christian Church, PO Box 3548, Edmond, OK 73083 or to a charity of your choice.
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