Paul Gresham Jr.

Published 3:58 pm Friday, May 24, 2013

Paul Gresham Jr., 89, of Old Spring Hill, died Friday, May 24, 2013 at Trinity Medical Center in Birmingham following a brief illness.

A celebration of his life will be at 3 p.m. Tuesday, May 28 at Fairhaven Baptist Church in Demopolis, U.S. Highway 80 West, with the Revs. Scott Stevens and Joel Farrow officiating and Kirk Funeral Home in charge. Burial will follow in Prairieville Cemetery at St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Gallion, U.S. Highway 80. Visitation will be at 2 p.m. prior to the service at the church.

Pallbearers are grandsons and Don Sprewell. Honorary pallbearers are Dr. Mo Fitzgerald, Dr. Randy Harrison, Dr. Steve Cowley, members of Jack’s Coffee and Breakfast Club and friends at Fairhaven Baptist Church.

Mr. Gresham was born in Tuscaloosa on November 14, 1923 to Paul Gresham Sr. and Clementine Hamby Gresham. He was preceded in death by his wife of 51 years, Avenell Cooper Gresham; brother, Edward Gresham, sister, Juanita Gresham Jones; and his parents.

He is survived by his daughter, Monelle Gresham Clifton (Tom) of Jackson, Miss.; sons, Kenneth Gresham (Debby) of Selma and Douglas Gresham (Janet), of Valley Grande; six grandchildren, Michael Clifton, Emily Gresham McGough (Patrick), Si Gresham, Tyler Gresham (Jenna), Jacob Gresham and Clint Gresham; and one great-granddaughter, Catherine McGough.

Mr. Gresham was a veteran of World War II and served in the U.S. Army with the 428th Military Police Escort Guard Co. in the European Theatre. His assignments included Normandy, where he fought in the D-Day battle at Omaha Beach; Northern France, The Rhineland (Battle of Hurtgen Forest), the Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge) and Central Europe.

Upon returning from the war, Mr. Gresham married Avenell Cooper in March 1946, and they eventually moved from Tuscaloosa to Hale County where he worked as a farm manager in Prairie Eden. They moved to Marengo County in 1972 where he was a general contractor until his retirement.

Mr. Gresham loved God, his family, his friends and his country. He annually spoke to Veterans’ Day assemblies at Demopolis High School and began his talk saying, “Back in 1942, I got a letter in the mail from my uncle congratulating me that I had been chosen!” At age 19, he joined the U.S. Army and went on to fight in some of the most intense battles in Europe. He also reminded students that the Holocaust was real and that “You choose a country by the number of people wanting in, not the number of people wanting out.”

In later years, Mr. Gresham was privileged to attend both the 40th and 50th anniversaries of D-Day in Normandy, the annual reunion of his World War II Company in Atlanta and the Veterans’ Honor Flight to Washington D.C. He also visited the D-Day Museum in New Orleans and the Admiral Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg, Texas.

He liked little dogs and enjoyed hunting squirrel, birds, deer and turkey. He also grew tomatoes, peaches, corn and okra. At various times, he raised turkeys and guineas and produced milk and honey.

He was a member of Fairhaven Baptist Church, the Jack’s Coffee and Breakfast Club of Demopolis, Demopolis Lodge 49 where he received his 60-year membership certificate, and for several years, he was an actor in the Canebrake Players Theater. His positive attitude, quick wit and sense of humor will be missed. Memorials can be made to Wounded Warriors.