Rankin Woodward “Woody” Paul

A memorial gathering for Rankin Woodward “Woody” Paul, 81, Lawrence, will be from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at Warren-McElwain Mortuary in Lawrence. Graveside inurnment services will be at a later date in Washington Court House, Ohio.Mr. Paul died Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2005, at Pioneer Ridge Retirement Community.He was born Feb. 23, 1924, in Washington Court House, the son of Ada and Rankin Paul. He graduated from Washington High School in 1942. He received a bachelor’s degree from Wooster College and a master’s degree in geology from Kansas University.Mr. Paul served in the U.S. Air Force during World War II and became a pilot and captain on a B-24 Bomber. He was stationed in Cergnola in southern Italy. He flew 28 missions in eastern Germany and over the Ploesti, Romania oil fields. He was a consulting geologist and monitored the drilling of oil and gas wells in western Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. He taught geology, astronomy and meteorology from 1971 to 1978 at Penn Valley Community College in Kansas City, Mo. He hosted his own TV cooking show.He married Mina Mae Barker in 1944. She died in 1962.A son, Jack, and a daughter, Jocelyn Allen, both died in 1981.Survivors include a son, Craig, Lawrence; a daughter, Gretchen Paul, Garden City; two sisters, Judith Craig, Ashland, Ore., and Sue Dervin, Reynoldsburg, Ohio; five grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; and longtime companion Marian Root, Lawrence.The family suggests memorials to Hospice Care in Douglas County or the American Diabetes Assn., sent in care of the mortuary.E-mail condolences may be sent to info@warrenmcelwain.com, subject: Paul