Blog no. 47

Vernon Gale Paul was born on September 2, 1916, in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, to Raymond Paul and Bessie Belle Stevenson. He had three siblings, and their names were David Carlyle “Carlyle” Paul, Dorothy Mae (Paul) Ohrman, and Kathryn Marie “Kay” Paul. 

On June 23, 1934, in Cook County, Illinois, Vernon married Grace Elizabeth Roberts. They had two children. Their names were Dorothy Mae Grace (Paul) Putnam Dazey and Terry Allan Paul, my grandfather. In 1947, for unknown reasons, Grace left home and was never heard from again. Nobody knows what happened to her and I can’t find any record of her from after she left. The family lived at 10141 South Calumet Avenue, in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, where he worked as a mechanic/engineer.

Two years after Grace’s disappearance, at a dance, Vernon met a woman named Ardath Curnick Breitenbach. The two dated for only a few months until they married on September 29, 1949, in Cook County, Illinois. They had three children, and their names are Timothy Charles “Tim” Paul, Christopher James “Chris” Paul, and Theodore Frederick “Ted” Paul.

After Vernon and Ardath’s son, Tim, was born, they decided they didn’t want to raise their children in Chicago, Illinois, so they drove west on highway route 30 and eventually found Morrison, Whiteside County, Illinois. They knew that was going to be the place they would reside with their growing family. Sometime after, Vernon became an alderman for the city as he would be for many years. He also, in around 1967, ran for mayor, but he unfortunately lost by one vote due to him wanting to shut down the taverns on Sundays. Alongside being an alderman, he was a piano tuner, which was caused by Ardath being a piano teacher, and many other jobs, but the one that I think stands out the most though is him being a member of the Toastmasters International organization. Vernon was a well-respected man of Morrison, Illinois.

In around 1969, outside Vernon’s family home at 602 North Madison Street, in Morrison, Illinois, playing baseball we’re children. After playing for a little while, a rogue baseball went through and broke one of his home’s windows. That inspired Vernon to create a baseball team for all of the city’s children. Vernon still had a lot to plan though, they still needed a name and a place to play. Vernon and his wife Ardath, after thinking for some time, came up with the perfect name, the Paul’s Prestos. Paul meaning Vernon, and Presto, a musical term for fast. The team’s first baseball field was located at the high school, but that wasn’t a great fit, so they moved to the junior high baseball field. Later the city of Morrison, Illinois, allowed them to use land given by the American Legion to build a baseball park, which is now known as Kiwanis Park. The Paul’s Prestos went on to play many years until their last season came along in 1982. Vernon spent a lot of his time and money on his team, and it was all because of his love for sports and a rogue baseball.

For everything Vernon did for the community, the modern-day Kiwanis Park was named Vernon Paul Memorial Field in honor of him. Today, it has been obviously renamed, but it will forever truly be the Vernon Paul Memorial Field. A plaque was also placed at the Morrison Sports Complex for Vernon that reads “In memory of a man who loved and believed in his country. And to the youth of Morrison, to whom he gave his all, to promote good sportsmanship in the great game of baseball.”

In 1971, Vernon had not been feeling well and decided to go to the Morrison Community Hospital. He was diagnosed with blocked arteries and was transferred to a hospital in Sterling, Whiteside County, Illinois. He died on October 28, 1971, and was buried at Grove Hill Cemetery, in Morrison, Whiteside County, Illinois.

I know this blog is not TN history or Spring Hill, TN history related like usual, but I wanted to be able to tell the wonderful story of my Great-grandfather, Vernon Paul, who did many great things for the small city of Morrison, Illinois, just like Spring Hill, TN’s residents of the past.