Paul Gene Roden, 75, a lifelong resident of Paris and president of the Paris Junior College board of regents for 12 years, died on Monday, June 24, 2013, after working in his yard with his wife and grandson.
Visitation is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, June 29, at Starrett Funeral Home. Funeral services will be at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, June 30, at Lamar Avenue Church of Christ with Patrick Cannon and John Cannon officiating. A private family interment will be held at a later date.
Pallbearers are Quentin Christian, James Paul Miears, Carlton Grant, Gene Stallings, Hampy Hodges, Emerson Bell, Bobby Smallwood, and Bill Berry. Honorary pallbearers are Dr. Geoff Grubb, Lamar County Judge Chuck Superville, Mike Grigsby, and members of the Rotary Club of Paris.
He married Anita Jean Franklin, a childhood friend and kindergarten teacher, on Dec. 31, 1978. She survives along with a daughter, Kathy Floyd and husband Randy of Paris; three sons: Paul Kirk Roden and wife Kate, Ward Hall and wife Laurel, and Kevin Hall and fiancee Tracy Scott, all of Oklahoma City; a brother-in-law and schoolmate: Clifford Franklin and wife Betsy of Dallas; six grandchildren: Ross Floyd of Oklahoma City, Kellen Floyd of Paris, Arden and Brink Hall of Oklahoma City, Ethan Hall of Paris, and Jake Hall of Oklahoma City; a sister: Mary Suzanne Roden of Tyler; a brother: Marcus Lee Roden and wife Sharon of Paris; a beloved aunt: Jessie Denton of Paris; treasured extended family member: Katherine Hughes; adoptive grandson: Christopher Hudson; and his constant four-legged companions: Hansel, Gretel, and Julio.
A retired insurance executive and third-generation Lamar County funeral director, he was active in numerous civic activities including : member of the City of Paris Traffic & Thoroughfares Commission, Master Planning and Redistricting Committees; Lamar County Chamber of Commerce;Jaycees; Girl Scouts Council of Red River Valley; CASA for Kids; Rotary Club of Paris, where he was a Paul Harris Fellow; East Texas, Texas, and National Funeral Directors Associations; Texas Association of Insurance Officials; and the Texas Association of Life and Health Insurers; Paris Junior College Board of Regents, which he served for 24 years, including eight years as vice president and 12 years as president; executive board of Ark-Texas Council of Governments; chairman of Workforce Solutions Northeast Texas; and 2012 inductee into the PJC Hall of Honors. He was a director and tutor in the Literary Council and volunteered at the Downtown Food Pantry.
“I have always been and remain active in civic and charitable affairs, and my family worships at Lamar Avenue Church of Christ,” Roden said proudly in an interview in May of last year.
Roden attended Paris schools and Paris Junior College before graduating in 1960 from Southern Methodist University as an accounting major, and graduating in 1961 from mortuary college in the top 10 percent of his class before following in his father’s footsteps in the family business.
The family requests gifts be made to PJC Memorial Endowment, Paul Gene Roden Scholarship Fund, 2400 Clarksville St., Paris TX 75460.
By Charles Richards, eParisExtra