Richard Ellison Paul

Dr. Richard Paul died peacefully July l3 at Arbor Springs Care
Facility shortly after his 89th birthday. This is just 6 months after the death of hls wife of 65 years, Marie. Dr. Paul had an active and fulfilling life and career. He was born to Dr. J.D. and Mildred Paul on July 1, 192O in Anamosa, Iowa. He was yery active in sports and many other outside activities at Anamosa H.S. He received a scholarship to play football at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, but because of a severe knee injury changed hls focus to his second love, music. While in college he was asked to join several midwestern 'territorial' bands and spent his summers playing clarinet and saxophone in the ballrooms of Chicago, Minneapolis, and Omaha.
In 1942 after graduation from college he married Marie Dolson
from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and they moved to Iowa City where he
received his M.D. degree. Subsequently he was drafted into the
Navy and spent most of the war in the South Pacific. Following the war he and Marie moved to Des Moines where he completed a
residency in general surgery at the V.A. hospital. He was in the
process of setting up a solo surgery praetice when in 1953 he was again called to serve his country and was assigned to a M*A*S*H unit in Korea. It was in Korea that he learned the skills in trauma and vascular surgery which he later used in his surgical practice in Des Molnes. Dr. Paul was on the staff of several hospitals in the city but called Iowa Methodist Medical Center his home base. He was highly regarded as a surgeon and as a compassionate physician.
Dr. Paul was an active pllot and owned his own airplane for many
years. He was a member of the flying bird men and flying
physicians. He loved to hunt pheasants and quail and would often
travel with his boys and friends to hunt in southern Iowa near Mt. Ayr. He was an avid fisherman and loved to fish in the Ozarks, Florlda Keys, Canada and finally at his lake home on Lake Vermillon near Virginia, MN. He loved sports cars and had several of his own. He served as the track surgeon at Greenwood Raceway in Indianola and at Sebring Raceway in Florida.
He was an avid gardener and had beautiful vegetable and flower gardens at his lake home. Dr. Paul loved pets and was known for the 4 monkeys that he and Marie had for almost 2 decades. Dr. Paul will be sorely missed as he offered so much to those he touched.
He is survived by his 3 sons: R. Douglas (Gayle), in Weaverville, NC; Bruce (Mary Ann) in Odessa, FL; and David (Deb) in Baxter, MN; and his grandchildren: Joan Ellison, Amanda Paul-Gordon, Deanna, Ryan, Ashley, Michael, and Stephanie
Paul. He was preceeded in death by his parents and his brother Bob and sister Barbara.
The body will be cremated and funeral arrangements are pending.
Memorial contributions in Dr. Paul's name can be made to The Des Moines Chapter of the Izaak Walton League and to Iowa Methodist Medical Center.
Online condolences may be sent to www.HamiltonsFuneralHome.com

Print