Son of Paul 1885
As a young man, Paul, Jr. attended North Carolina State University, where he
was a member of the College ROTC program and graduated with a degree in
Electrical Engineering in 1938. While attending college
he worked for the Tennessee Valley Authority. In 1938 he joined the US Army as
a 2nd Lieutenant in the infantry. In 1940 Paul applied and was
accepted into pilot training in the newly formed Army Air Corps. During the
last few weeks of pilot training, Paul failed an eye exam and elected to attend
navigator school. As WW II broke out, Paul was a 1st Lt. He spent
the war navigating planes all over the world, usually the first choice of Generals
because he was the best there was. At the time the war ended, Major Paul
Bodwell was the highest ranking navigator in the Army Air Corp. Following the
war, Paul went to work for the Seaboard Coast Line Rail Road, working as a
signal maintainer in Raleigh, Tallahassee, Jacksonville, and Savannah. In 1961,
he was promoted to manager and transferred to the home office in Richmond,
Virginia. In 1967, The Seaboard Coast Line and the Coast Line RR's merged. In
the mid '60's Paul invented a Hot Box Detector, an electronic device that is
positioned at entrances to rail yards and is designed to determine if any rail
car axles are overheating. Paul was transferred yet again to Jacksonville,
Florida, where he retired in 1973. In 1980, Paul and Martha moved to Fries,
Virginia in order to be close to their daughter and enjoy the mountains. In his
spare time Paul enjoyed hunting and fishing, though like most, never getting
very good at it. In 1996, they once again moved to Waynesboro, Virginia were
they resided until Paul entered an extended care facility. Paul was an
accomplished mechanic who enjoyed tinkering with cars in his younger days,
often buying used ones to fix up and sell. Martha is a very creative artist who
worked in oil, water color and ultimately china paint.
Born |
Died |
Married |
Spouse |
21 Mar 1917 |
19 Dec 1999 |
12 Aug 1944 |
Martha L. Silliman |
Forsythe, Ga |
Amherst, Va |
Garden City, Ny |
b. 16 May 1922 |
|
Name |
Birth Date |
Birth Place |
Death Date |
Death Place |
1. |
31 Oct 1945 |
Mineola, Ny |
|
|
|
2. |
Barbara Ann |
16 Aug 1949 |
Hamlet, Nc |
|
|
December 18, 1996
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Contact: charlie@bodwellfamily.org December 26,1996