Paul Wolfe

Mr. Paul J. Wolfe passed away Monday, August 19, 2013, at his residence in St. Petersburg, FL.  Paul was born September 12, 1930 in Davenport, Iowa, the oldest son of Melvin and Frances (McLoughlin) Wolfe, and grew up on a farm in Lost Nation, Iowa.

He attended grade school and high school in Lost Nation and bragged to his 10 children that he graduated in the Top 10 of his high school class at age 16. It wasn’t until later while attending his 20th high school reunion that the kids realized that there were only 9 kids in his high school class! Paul graduated in 1950 from St. Ambrose College, Davenport, Iowa and went on to earn his Masters degree from the University of Michigan.

Paul served our country as a meteorologist in the U.S. Air Force after earning his degree from Penn State University. When recalling how that assignment occurred, he said his fear of heights and eyesight ruled out being a pilot and the recruiting officer saw his degree in Mathematics and thought that it made perfect sense for him to be a weatherman, since weather guys were always talking about the probability of rain. He never missed a chance to point out the difference between nimbostratus, stratocumulus and altocumulus clouds or discuss the nuances of an approaching low pressure system! As kids, we really knew our clouds!

Paul was first married to Patricia A. Sattler on September 5, 1953 in Dearborn, Michigan. They were married for more than 30 years and were blessed with 10 children (that’s what is known as an Irish blessing!)

Paul’s career path took him back to the Davenport after his service where he taught college mathematics and head baseball coach at St. Ambrose College beginning in 1957. In 1958, at age 28, he was named athletic director for the college. He was at the forefront of the computer industry emergence when he went to work for Iowa-Illinois Gas and Electric Company in their new “Computer Department” in 1961. His success there led him to join the Computer Sciences Department at the University of Iowa in 1963 where he served as Assistant Director until leaving for the University of Kansas in 1969 to head up its Computer Department. He subsequently held teaching and student services positions at Western Missouri State and University of Missouri Kansas City involving Computer Science.

Paul loved sports, in particular baseball. He was an outstanding player who decided to forego a professional career in the Detroit Tigers organization to better support his rapidly growing family. He played baseball throughout his life and continued to be an excellent hitter for his over-35 baseball league team even leading them in hitting his final season of competition at age 61. Although he never fully regained his health and sports lifestyle after a medical emergency in 1991, he did live an active and engaged life. He married Barbara Heeter on December 31, 1993 and they shared almost 20 years of marriage together.

Paul had a strong belief in honesty and hard work. He always stressed the importance of finishing any job that was started and especially liked to hand out jobs around the house to his children to help ingrain that lesson. He was the King of the Remote Control, loved ice cream and all desserts and enjoyed listening to the baseball games on the radio with the TV audio turned down.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to Disabled American Veterans (www.dav.org) in the name of Paul Wolfe. 

Among survivors are his second wife, Barbara; his ten children, Michael (Maggie) Wolfe of San Ramon, CA; Tim (Sheela) Wolfe of Lawrence, KS – David, Marie, Kristen and Dallas; Steve (Starr) Wolfe of Overland Park, KS – Jerrod and Kandace; Teresa (Doyle) Gerard of Lawrence, KS – Kelly and Kristie; Kathy (David) Bradley of West Hartford, CT – Christopher; Mary (Dan) Danielak of West Bloomfield, MI – Jaclyn, Lauren and Meagan; Margaret (Jerry) Cox of Hillsboro, MO – Sara, Daniel and Michael; Tom (Kim) Wolfe of Overland Park, KS – Jessica, Jake and Macey; John (Gigi) Wolfe of Somerville, MA – Ayaulym and Xinmei; and Maureen (Mike) Moore of Littleton, CO. Paul has a sister, Patricia (Gene) Higuera of Blairsville, GA; two sisters-in-law, Kathy Wolfe and Mary Kellenberger, Bettendorf, IA; brothers, David (Tori) Wolfe of Bettendorf, IA; and Richard Wolfe of Phoenix, AZ. 

He was preceded in death by his parents, Melvin and Frances (McLaughlin) Wolfe, and his brother, Robert Wolfe and his first wife, Patricia Wolfe. May they Rest in Peace.

A service will be held at Bay Pines National Cemetery in St. Petersburg, FL, on Friday, August 30th at 9:15 AM, with a reception at Brentwood Senior Living, 6280 Central Ave, St. Petersburg, FL.

TO PAUL WITH ALL MY LOVE
By Barbara Wolfe

Paul was the love of my life! It was Easter Sunday 1987. I was having dinner with three couples with whom I sang in the choir. Kathy told me that they had a friend who was a professor with 10 kids who lived 50 miles away that they wanted me to meet. I said why in the world would I want to meet a professor with ten kids who lived fifty miles away. I was a single mother with one son in high school and one in college.

In October, I attended a birthday party with the same people. They invited me to their college reunion that was taking place the next day at Shawnee Mission Park. Since it was a beautiful Indian Summer weekend in Kansas City.

Paul arrived and we were introduced and stood there talking for a long time. He told me that he had just left his daughter, who lived in St Louis and had this beautiful singing voice. Then he proceeded to tell me about all his ten children. He was very proud of each of them. I excused myself and went to get a coke, he wandered down to the lake. A few minutes later he invited me to go sailing. We were seldom apart after that. 

We were married December 31,1993. We had our reception on the Starlight Majesty dinner boat out of Clearwater and everyone of the 55 who attended said it was the best party they ever attended.

We lived our vows in sickness and in health. There wasn’t a day that went by that he didn’t tell me he loved me. We will walk hand in hand in eternity.

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