Paul F. Long, 98, of Alden, entered into glory on January 14, 2022, at Sterling Village. Paul was a treasured husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and teacher.

Paul was born to Henry and Pearl Long in southeastern Colorado in a tarpaper shack on the prairie in 1923. He and his five siblings took turns riding bareback to their one-room schoolhouse. When Paul was 8 in 1931, he and his family moved to a farm home south of the Arkansas River, barely escaping the fury of the Dust Bowl. Paul and all his siblings graduated from Alden High School, where Paul had also dated Lois Duncan during their senior year.

When Paul was drafted in 1944, he and Lois were married in the bay window of her family home, which they then bought in 1947 and lived in until December 2021.

Paul was inducted into the army in May 1944, ultimately ending up in the 10th Mountain Division. They soon shipped out for Italy, where they were in combat with German soldiers until the war ended in Europe in 1945. Paul was finally discharged from the army in the spring of 1946 in possession of numerous medals, including the Purple Heart.

Paul then enrolled at Sterling College and by attending both regular and summer sessions, plus receiving credit for various army activities, was able to graduate in two and a half years. He then went to work teaching 7th and 8th grades at Kensington Grade School. During that time Paul and Lois' son Duncan was born in 1949.

Paul decided he wanted to coach high school basketball and took jobs at Beverly and Satanta, which is where their daughter Jan was born in 1952. Paul then did a stint selling life insurance for Kansas City Life Insurance Co. but the coaching bug was still biting. So, Paul spent the next eight years teaching biology and coaching high school basketball, one year at Norton as an assistant coach and seven years as basketball coach at Florence, KS, where he took a team to State in 1958. During the summers of those eight years, Paul earned his master’s degree at KU.

During all those years of teaching, Paul and Lois had maintained their house in Alden and they decided it was time to look for jobs closer to home. Paul found a job teaching at Ellinwood Grade School and soon thereafter a job opened up in the Alden/Sterling Schools teaching biology. He remained in that position for 17 years, retiring in 1986. During Paul's years of retirement, he indulged his passion for reading, researching, and writing, submitting many articles for publication in the Kansas Territorial and other regional publications. He was also a prolific writer of poetry, producing two collections--"A Host of Christmases" and "Songs from the Sandhills".

Paul also wrote a weekly column for the Sterling Bulletin entitled "Nature's Week" and was referred to fondly by some as Mr. Nature.

Paul was preceded in death by his two beloved children--his writer/illustrator son Duncan, and his lawyer/judge/legislator daughter Jan. We can only imagine the joyous reunion in heaven!

Paul is survived by his wife of 77 years, Lois Duncan Long; his granddaughter Kristen Geri (Chad) of Olathe and their children Jonathan, Breely, Mia and Daniel; his grandson Nicholas Long (Samantha) of Manhattan; his son-in-law Ron Pauls of Hutchinson; and his daughter-in-law Maggie Long of Manhattan.

The funeral service will be at 11:30 A.M., Saturday, January 22, 2022, at CrossPoint Church, Sterling, with Pastor Andy Addis officiating. Burial will follow at the Alden Valley Cemetery, Alden with military honors by the United States Army Honor Guard. Visitation will be from 5:00 until 7:00 P.M., Friday, January 21, 2022, at CrossPoint Church, Sterling. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a contribution to the Jan (Long) Pauls Memorial Scholarship Fund or Sterling Village in care of Birzer Funeral Home, Sterling.

For those wishing to view the service online, please use the following link. https://fb.me/e/1w8tV29Mg