Obituary
Joseph E. St. Paul, Jr. of The Villages, Florida, formally of Kingston, New York, passed away after a lengthy battle with Parkinson’s disease and dementia on October 13, 2022. He was 80 years old.
Joseph (Butch, as he was known to many) and his wife relocated to Florida in 2013 from upstate New York, seeking sunshine rather than snow shovels in their retirement. He began his employment as a teenager working for Woolworths in their stockroom and bakery. It was at Woolworths where he met Dorothy, a counter girl, who would become his wife of 61 years. He also worked as a door-to-door salesman for Fuller Brush, until he became employed by IBM as a systems analyst. He maintained employment with IBM at both their Kingston and Poughkeepsie locations for 27 years. He ended his career working in procurement for Grubb & Ellis.
Joe was an avid reader, favoring Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden” and Leo Buscaglia’s “Love: What Life is All About”, but could also be found reading National Geographic or any periodical or magazine about psychology or travel. He and his wife Dorothy traveled to all 50 states, many more than once, and most of the nation’s National Parks. He was especially interested in finding the places to travel to that were well kept secrets, the gem stones that were not listed in popular tourist travel guides. He included his children in his love of adventure, ensuring that every vacation rotated between a “fun” day, such as a visit to a theme park, and an “educational” day, such as a tour of a national monument. There were days of hot air ballooning, deep sea fishing, visits to the Harley Davidson Museum, and most definitely, many, many trips to Cooperstown’s Baseball Hall of Fame. In his younger years, Joe was a champion bodybuilder, continuing to incorporate his love for physical fitness into his daily routine well into his ‘70’s. Joe was also a lover of trivia, and was renowned for winning every game of Trivial Pursuit that one dared to participate in with him. He was forever a New York Giants and Yankees fan, and cherished his trips to Saratoga Springs for the horse races.
Joe will be remembered for his sense of humor, which was contagious and was experienced by all who came into contact with him. He was known to be the life of every party, and he enjoyed that he could bring laughter to others, whether it be through his funny take on a dance move or a joke that you never heard the punch line for, because he was laughing too hard himself to convey it. He loved his wife’s banana cream pie, (his birthday “cake” each year), drive-in movies and New York style pizza.
Joe is survived by his wife Dorothy, daughters Lori High and Jill Van Leuvan, grandchildren Courtney and Matthew Van Leuvan and sister Brenda Elder. He is preceded in death by his parents Joseph E. St.Paul, Sr. and Violet Ione St.Paul (Rittie), brother Jeffrey St.Paul and son-in-law Jonathan High.
A Celebration of Life will be held in the spring of 2023 in Kingston, New York, Joe’s final resting place.
If you would like to share a memory of Joe, please visit the website for Baldwin Brothers Funeral & Cremation Society at: https://baldwincremation.com/the-villages.
So sorry for your loss. Hope all the good memories will help you through this time.