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Paul said, “ A sport star I was not, an ‘H letter’ in tennis and bowling, but a flop in major sports, although I did make the cut
in Joe Dobbins’ baseball team but had to give it up because it was too tough to have to ride my bicycle all the way home to
Porter Settlement after practice.” Eventually Paul got his driver’s license and had the use of a pickup truck by delivering milk to
a few customers and to the Houlton Farms Dairy. Paul reported that “Houlton High School was very good to me.” He was the
valedictorian of the Class of 1951, “in spite of what others have written.” He said that the friends made at HHS “have been the
closest I have, or in part I probably should say ‘had,’ for many of them are sadly now gone.”
Paul’s academic record at HHS got him into Bowdoin College; where in 1955, Paul graduated with a major in mathematics
and a minor in physics. As a member of the ROTC, he also graduated as a 2 nd Lieutenant in the US Army. Paul married
Glynn Geyer of Bangor that year and then served two years of active duty as a Signal Corps Officer at the Tobyhanna Signal
Depot in the “honeymoon” area of Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, where many newly married couples go for their honeymoons.
After the Army, Paul and Glynn returned to Houlton where he taught Math and Drivers Education at HHS for two years.
During that time, they had two children, Steven and John, both of whom live in Houlton. Growing up Paul was always known
as “Herman’s boy.” When Paul retired back to Houlton, he became known as “Bink’s (Steven’s) father.” Steven is also a graduate
of HHS.
In 1959, Paul was given a National Science Foundation grant for a summer session back at Bowdoin, and a yearlong grant for
a master’s in teaching degree from Brown University in 1960. Paul said, “In my family there have been many teachers, so it was
not too great a shock when I took up the profession. Many of my students and my father though I should have been a farmer!”
From Brown University, Paul, Glynn and their two kids moved to Lawrenceville, New Jersey, where he was hired to teach
mathematics at The Lawrenceville School. Paul reported that his years at Lawrenceville were superb. When they arrived, it was
an all boy’s school, grades 8-12, and known as the most expensive private school in the country. The school prepared most of its
students to go to Princeton University, which was but 5 miles up the road. He says that, “Things have changed a bit since then.
It went Co-ed in 1985.” A Houlton girl, Bethany Wiggin, daughter of David and Alison Wiggin, HHS teachers (David was
later Superintendent), was in the first-year class for girls in 1987. Tom and Andrew Barnes and Leslie Rhoda all from Houlton,
also attended the school.
At school, besides teaching math, Paul and Glynn spent eight years as house parents to 35 boys in Griswold House, one of
eight dorms for students in grades 10 and 11. From those associations, Glynn was chosen as an honorary member of the class
of 1969 and Paul as an honorary member of the classes of 1968 and 1972. As a House Master (always capitalized at school)
Paul coached the Griswold House football team to the championship among the eight House teams for three years running.
He also coached the basketball team (not such a great record), and the House baseball team. One of his pitchers pitched a
perfect game, which changed the sport to slow pitch softball.
Thirteen of the years Paul was at the Lawrenceville School, he was Chairman of the Math Department, a sixteen- member
department whose courses ranged from remedial algebra (BC level), Advanced Placement Calculus, to a semester at Princeton
for the really talented. Other jobs at Lawrenceville included Dean of Studies (Chairman of the Chairman of all Departments),
Assistant Dean of Students (Discipline responsibilities), and Coach of Golf (5 years), and Eastern Scholastic Championship the
year before he retired. He says, “My coaching had nothing to do with winning. It was because of the good golfers on the team.”
Paul was a recipient of the Independent Foundation Chair, which contributed greatly to his salary for many of the years he was
there. And he was honored to receive the Master’s Award for Outstanding Teaching in 1999, following his retirement.
During his tenure at The Lawrenceville School, Paul was granted sabbaticals on three different occasions. For the first
sabbatical, Paul and Glynn went to Europe, where they toured for a full month. The second sabbatical in the spring of 1984
proved to be quite an adventure. With a friend and associate from the Lawrenceville math department, Paul sailed from
Mobile, AL, to Plymouth, England, on his friend’s 35-foot sailboat. The boat was a double-ender, wooden, Southern Cross
boat with the name “Crystal Catfish 3.” It proved to be even more exciting than expected. They encountered several very
strong storms. One was so severe that they took down all sails and battened themselves in the cabin to simply bounce in the
large waves for a full day. Along the way, they stopped for brief stays in Bermuda and in the Azores. If anyone ever lands on
the Island of Horta in the Azores, look for Paul’s name and the name of the boat on the famous harbor wall. In all, they were
underway for fifty days.
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