Paul Baldwin

Paul Dean Baldwin, 83, of Whitney passed away Tuesday, July 17, 2018, at his residence. His family will host a memorial service at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, July 21, 2018, at the Whitney Church of Christ with Mr. Bruce Martin officiating. Arrangements are under the direction of Marshall & Marshall Funeral Directors in Whitney.

The first child of Elijah and Lockey Baldwin, Paul was born on May 7, 1935 in Mountain View, Arkansas. He was a strong, healthy, and curious young boy at 1 ½ years old. Paul had three siblings: two sisters, Mary June and Sarah Evelyn, and one brother, Gene Oren. He used to say that 1942 was the best and worst year of his life. In 1942, God gave seven year old Paul a little brother, Gene Oren, who was his pride. This made him no longer the only male in the house with his two sisters, mother, and grandmother. But also in 1942, his father, Elijah, who had served in both World War I and World War II, died.

At age 17, during the Korean War in 1952, Paul enlisted in the United States Air Force, where he served in the 12th Troop Squadron of the 60th Troop Carrier Group in Rhein/Main Germany and Dreux, France, as a Flight Engineer working on C-119s also known as the “Flying Box Cars.” Since 2001, Paul had coordinated an annual reunion of the surviving members of his US Air Force Squadron. After leaving the military, Paul was an inspector for Boeing Aircraft, working in Wichita Falls, Texas, Seattle, Washington, Long Beach, California, and Shreveport, Louisiana. From 1962 to 1967, Paul worked on the three stages of the Saturn rocket – Stage I, in New Orleans, Stage II at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, and Stage III at Cape Canaveral in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), where he worked in the “clean room” as an inspector before flight take off. Paul loved working on airplanes but had grown tired of the constant moving, so he chose to return to Arkansas where he went into car sales. That was the field that he worked in until he retired in 2015.

On February 1, 1997, Paul married his wife Darline, and they have lived in Whitney, Texas, ever since. Having lived and traveled around the world, Paul sincerely loved and appreciated the warmth of the people and natural beauty of the town of Whitney. Paul enjoyed working in and took pride in his own yard. He particularly loved his small garden of roses, and each day before breakfast, he would place one of those roses at the plate of his wife, Darline.

Few people knew that Paul had a real love for fine art but an even greater love for nature. Once while at sea, he wrote in his journal, “Looking out across the sea has a similar hypnotizing effect to gazing into a fire… God paints pictures no mortal artist can equal.” Paul was also a very talented and gifted writer who could tell you a story and make you feel as if you were actually in the middle of the story with him experiencing each moment.

While a big man in stature, he had a very kind and gentle heart and a love and tenderness for animals. He especially had a special place in his heart for “Guber,” the dog that he referred to as his “cookie sheet dog.” In 2004, while a neighbor was out jogging, she witnessed a person in a truck throwing this 11 lb. dog out of the truck and then running over him. She brought this little broken and barely alive little dog to Paul on a cookie sheet. After several operations and a lot of TLC, Paul became Guber’s “Big Buddy.” He rescued his little black and white cat, known as “Precious,” in 2002. Precious was one of four 4-day-old kittens whose mother had just been killed by a snake. All four kittens, with their eyes still closed, fit together in one of Paul’s big and gentle hands.

Paul always enjoyed a home cooked meal, and shrimp was one of his favorites.

Preceding him in death were his parents.

Survivors include his wife of 21 years, Darline Baldwin of Whitney; daughter, Tamera Weeks of Patillion, Nebraska; brother, Gene Baldwin of Hazen, Arkansas; two sisters, June Willis of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and Sarah Bolin of Mountain View, Arkansas; and six grandchildren, Micah, Lauren, Kendal, Christian, Reagan, and Bronson Weeks.

Memorial

Saturday July 21, 2018 , 10:30 AM at Whitney Church of Christ