Submitted by: Dan Rich

Paul F. Boehm

July 14, 1910 - Jan. 15, 2003

South Bend Tribune 1/18/2003

Paul F. Boehm, 92, of the Fountainview Place Nursing Home, formerly of Park Jefferson Apartments, died Wednesday evening, Jan. 15, in Fountainview Place. He was born July 14, 1910, to Michael J. and Margaret (Caveny) Boehm in Carlinville, Ill.

He was married Oct. 9, 1936 in South Bend, Ind., to Elinor F. Mason, who died Feb. 28, 1997. He is survived by a daughter, Ann Choinacky of South Bend; two sons, Michael F. Boehm of South Bend and Paul V. Boehm of Edwardsburg, Mich.; nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren; a sister, Martha R. Boehm of South Bend; and by a brother, Rev. Claude Boehm, C.S.C., of Notre Dame, Ind.

Paul graduated from South Bend High School in 1928 and from the University of Notre Dame in 1933.

He served 39 years with the South Bend Community School Corporation as a teacher-coach at Madison Junior High (1934-48), then as an assistant director in the Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation (1949-1955) and as Director of Public Recreation for the schools and city (1955 to his retirement in 1973).

He served as president of the Indiana Park and Recreation Association in 1963 and was a charter member of the State Committee on Recreation, appointed by Governor Matthew Welsh. He also served as a visiting professor at Purdue in the Department of Recreation in 1964. Paul served two terms as an area representative for both the State Commission for the Aged and Aging and for the Advisory Committee on Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired. A high school basketball and football official, he later served as an observer of officials for the Big Ten Conference.

Among his many awards are the Notre Dame Club of St. Joe Valley Man of the Year, the Indiana Park and Recreation Association Man of the Year, the Sam Wegner Award, the Russ Oliver Award and the George Cooper Award. He also received the Sagamore of the Wabash from Governor Otis Bowen for his work in helping to create Potato Creek State Park and has been a longtime member of the South Bend Hall of Fame. The public park on Edison Road in South Bend is also named after him.

Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 a.m. today in St. Anthony de Padua Catholic Church. Interment will follow at St. Joseph Valley Memorial Park, Granger, Ind. Friends may call from 9 a.m. until time of services this morning at the church. The HICKEY Funeral Home, 3516 E. Jefferson, 289-1000, has been in charge of arrangements.