Paul W. Andrews age 92, of Newark, Del. died on May 19 and is now at peace.

He was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on Feb. 20, 1926, the third of four sons of Eula Petty and Grover C. Andrews.

He attended East High School in Nashville, played several sports and served as captain of the basketball team, and held a number of part-time jobs, including ones as a drug store soda jerk and a radio announcer. After graduation, he served in the U.S. Navy in the last year of WWII, participating in preparation for the planned invasion of Japan, and briefly after the conclusion of the war.

Following his Navy service and enabled by the GI bill, he completed a degree in electrical engineering from Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville in three years. He then took a job with a Texas-based gas pipeline company, including a six-month assignment in the small town of Nixon, Texas, where he and his new bride Chris enjoyed Texan hospitality and abundant pecans from their landlady’s trees.

Paul and Chris moved to Louisville, Ky. in the early 1950s on Derby Day and found a scarcity of non-inebriated labor to help with the move. From 1953 until 1985, Paul was employed by the DuPont Co., first at Indiana Ordnance Works, then for the start-up of a cellophane plant in Tecumseh, Kansas, and moving to the Engineering Department at the Louviers Building in Newark in 1965. In 1970, Paul completed the requirements to be licensed as a Professional Engineer.

Following his retirement, Paul cared for Chris at home in the last years of her life when she was impaired due to effects of diabetes and strokes. After her death, he was able to travel and found new opportunities for friendship, exercise, and service at the Newark Senior Center.

Paul was ordained as a Baptist deacon in 1959 and served in a number of lay leadership roles at churches in Indiana, Kansas, and Delaware and with the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware. He has been a longtime member of Sycamore Hill Church in Hockessin and donated many volunteer hours on preparation and maintenance of a former school building with an antiquated heating system and many other challenges to serve as the congregation’s home.

Paul was preceded in death by his parents, his wife of 44 years, Christine May Andrews, and his brothers Ray and William. He is survived by his daughter Kimberly of Decatur, GA, his grandson Ethan Sawyer, his longtime friend Cindy Hay of Hockessin, his brother Bob L. (Jackie) Andrews of Hendersonville, TN, and his sister-in-law Frances Andrews of Gallatin, TN.

Throughout Paul and Chris’s life together and in the years since, they have been blessed by gifts of friendship. Much of Paul’s life was devoted to helping and serving others. In the years since a stroke and subsequent medical challenges limited his own capability, he has received many gracious gifts of support and care. The family expresses deep gratitude for all.

A service of remembrance and thanksgiving will be held on Thursday, May 24, 2018 at 12:00 PM at Sycamore Hill Church, 505 School House Road, Hockessin, DE 19707. Family and friends may begin visiting at 11:00 AM.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made payable to, “Newark Senior Center” or “Sycamore Hill Church” and sent in care of R.T. Foard & Jones, Inc., 122 West Main Street, Newark, DE 19711.