James Paul
Obituary
James R. Paul
Jim was born and raised in Seattle where his grandfather Dr. James Parker began his practice in Ballard in 1888. The family became residents of Magnolia in 1929 when his parents built one of the first homes on Perkins Lane.
Jim and his wife Ruth would have been married 64 years in January. Instead, together they rejoin for eternity as Ruth 88 unexpectedly passed away at home December 20th and Jim 89 succumbed December 29th. Their love began on a blind date arranged by Ruth’s close friend and wife of Jim’s WWII Army commander, and it grew through daily wartime letters. He returned from the Philippines with the following decorations and citations earned as a lieutenant anti-aircraft artillery officer: American Theater Service Medal; Asiatic Pacific Theater Service Medal with 2 Bronze Stars; Philippine Liberation Medal with a Bronze Star; World War II Victory Medal. Following their marriage in Ruth’s beloved home of Roper, NC, they spent their honeymoon in NYC and then traveled via car on a cross-country marathon that ended in their lifelong home in Seattle. One of the highlights of the trip happened while traveling thru Texas. The car overheated and left them stranded in the desert.
Jim attended Lakeside and graduated from the UW School of Architecture. He became a principal of the John Graham Company in the 1960’s, after leaving Graham he later merged his practice with the Balzhiser Group where he became a managing partner and later founded the Paul Partnership. He designed or managed the construction of many familiar projects – notably Seattle’s Federal Office Bldg, Park Shore Retirement Home, Bayview Manor, Kitsap Mall, Honolulu’s Ala Moana Center, Portland’s Lloyd Center and several area hospitals and country clubs. Jim served on several city and state advisory committees, including the state fire commission advisory board.
He had a passion for golf and once bartered his architectural fee for designing the former Overlake Country Club for a golf membership that both he and Ruth enjoyed for many years. After retiring his passion became model wood boat building and his first entry in the Coast Guard Model Boat Show won him a first prize. His collection of boats was often displayed at libraries and 4th of July celebrations at the Center for Wooden Boats. The library often requested his Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria replica’s for their Columbus Day celebration.
Dad always enjoyed building models, boats, planes and also scale gas powered hydroplanes. One special model was his gas powered Thriftway II. It found its’ way into Lake Washington with his children holding on to its’ string while Dad tried to get the engine to start. We are still waiting Dad! Jim also created a storied Doll House for his two granddaughter’s miniature dolls.
Two of Jim’s greatest loves were baseball and scouting and as a Boy Scout member in Troop 80 he attended the 1937 Boy Scout World Jamboree in Holland and later participated in several Scout reunions until he was unable. As a father he gave back to what he loved as a boy by serving as the leader of both an Indian Guide Tribe and Cub Scout Troop 80. He also coached baseball for 11 years and served as the commissioner of the Magnolia Little League in the late 1960’s.
Before Jim was old enough to drive, he built a wooden speedboat in his garage and sold it to buy his first car. He further displayed his entrepreneurial spirit when he founded the Space Cone Company. Jim organized friends and neighbors and he led the production, marketing and advertisement of a toy he played with in the Philippines to sell during the Seattle World’s Fair. He also helped organize a neighborhood swim club by pursuing an idea to have a pool built in a neighbor’s back yard that benefited many families and still is in operation to this day.
Dad always had a definite love for his desserts and his favorite was to have his family out together to pick whatever seasonal berry was ripe at that time and then go back and enjoy them in Ruth’s homemade cobbler with homemade ice cream. Nothing in the world was better than that!
Jim is survived by his daughters Kathy and Wendy Ty Tice; son Jim Linda and granddaughters Kelsey and Jamie; his brother Parker’s children Karin and Kristi and her daughter Tonya in CA, and of course his cat Simba, who brought him much happiness.
I moved into the Magnolia neighborhood in approx. 1956 as a 7yr. old and became best friends with Wendy who I still have wonderful memories of. I remember the fig trees in the back yard and the times we played together at her house and the warm relationships in her family. I moved away to Redmond in 1964 and missed the wonderful friend and neighbors on the next street. Many years later as an adult I knocked on the door of Wendy’s parents and to my surprise, Wendy’s mom recognised me immediately as Terri Carmichael, the little girl who had moved away 20 years earlier. I talked with her for awhile and then went down to the basement where I talked to Jim who mentioned some health problems he was concerned about and then showed me his model ships he was working on. I will never forget the childhood memories I have of Wendy and her parents who always made me feel welcome in their home.