IN MEMORIAM: Kenneth Paul ’65
The Rev. Kenneth Wayne Paul, Class of 1965, died October 9, 2022 in Shreveport, Louisiana, following a brief illness.
Ordained to the Priesthood in St. Mark's Church, (now Cathedral) on May 18,1966, he was named Rector of The Church of the Holy Cross in 1968. He served for 27 years as Episcopal Chaplain of The Canterbury House, at Centenary College of Louisiana. He was the first non-Roman Catholic in the United States to teach religion in a Catholic High School at St. Vincent's Academy in 1965. In 1975, he lectured at Queen's College, Oxford, University. As a Priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Western Louisiana he has served in many positions. He always said the ministries he started at Holy Cross of which he was most proud were the Endowment for Community Services, Holy Cross Hope House, Holy Cross Villas in Bossier City, Louisiana and Holy Cross Villas in west Shreveport. He was instrumental in seminary education and ordination for nineteen women and men from Holy Cross. He always said that being a Pastor to the sick and suffering was his most important ministry and that mostly happened "outside the stained-glass box".
Paul was born as he always said "on the edge of a cotton patch" in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, March 10, 1935, the second child of Mellie George and Newton Jefferson Paul, Sr. After graduation from Buckeye High School, he was educated at Asbury College, Wilmore, Kentucky; Southern Methodist University, (Perkins School of Theology), Dallas, Texas; The University of the South Sewanee, Tennessee; as well as General, and Christ Church College, Oxford, England.
Celebrations of Life were held Tuesday, October 18, 2022, at St. James Episcopal Church, Alexandria, Louisiana with Bishop Jacob Owensby, the Rev. Mary B. Richard, and the Rev. Canon John Bedingfield officiating, as well as Thursday, October 20, 2022 at The Church of the Holy Cross Episcopal, Shreveport, Louisiana with Bishop Owensby, the Rev. Richard, and the Rev. J. Garrett Boyte officiating. Interment was in The Church of the Holy Cross Rose Garden.
He was predeceased by his parents and eldest brother, Newton Jefferson Paul, Jr. He is survived by his wife, Virginia Millener Paul; their sons, William Stiles Paul and wife, Kathleen, and Raymond Millener Paul and wife, Sara; and his grandchildren, Caroline Jayne Renee, James Declan and Liam Millener Paul; his brothers, William Andrew, Hershal Leo, Colvin Hayden, Blanchard O'Dell Paul and their spouses; and sister, Marion Frances Trisler.
The family suggests that memorials may be made to the Philadelphia Center, 2020 Centenary Blvd, Shreveport, LA 71104 or the ARC of Caddo- Bossier, 351 Jordan St, Shreveport, LA 71101, on whose boards he was serving and had for many years or Holy Cross Church marked for Hope House, P.O. Box 1627, Shreveport, LA 71136.
From an obituary published in the Shreveport Times and posted online on October 11, 2022