Paul Logan DeVerter II

Paul Logan DeVerter II, 87, of Houston passed away on August 19, 2020, in Findlay, OH. Born on October 25, 1932, in Houston, Paul was the eldest son of Paul Logan and Ruth Ashmore Hendricks DeVerter. He was raised in Baytown, TX, with regular summer visits to his mother’s family farm in Eel River Township, Hendricks County, IN. He attended Wabash College in Crawfordsville, IN, and graduated from the University of Texas School of Engineering, Austin, with a BSME.

After spending two years in the United States Army as a radar and computer technician during the Korean War era, one of those years serving in England, he graduated from the University of Texas Law School, Austin, with an LLB. Concurrently while in law school, Paul worked as a research engineer in the Defense Research Laboratories. He was a member of Phi Kappa Psi social fraternity and Alpha Phi Omega legal fraternity. He was a 32nd Degree Mason and a member of the Arabia Shrine Temple.

On August 31, 1957, Paul married Betty Jane Cox in Abilene, TX. In 1959, he started with the law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski where he was an Intellectual Property and Patent attorney specializing primarily in unfair competition and trademark law. He was a member of several Bars including the State of Texas, United States Supreme Court, United States Court of Appeals Fifth and Eleventh Circuits, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He was also registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office and Canadian Trademarks Office.

Paul served as an officer in a number of legal organizations including Secretary of the Houston Patent Law Association, Chair of the State Bar of Texas Patent, Trademark and Copyright Section and President of the South Texas Alumni Association of Phi Kappa Psi. After more than 40 years, he retired from practicing law.

Having a lifelong love of railroads, Paul had been described as the dean of Houston traction historians. Whether it was an interurban, a trolley, narrow-gauge, passenger or model train, he was an enthusiast, photographer and collector. In the preface to his 2000 book entitled “Houston North Shore,” Paul wrote: “My interest in railroads probably derives from the fact that I grew up in the Humble Oil & Refining Co.’s company housing in Baytown. Our house was only one block from the Humble track which connected the refinery with the docks. The Houston North Shore was more distant, being four blocks away.”

Over the years, Paul spent countless time and talent working on the restoration of historic railroad passenger cars, including his own Pullman car, renamed the “San Jacinto.” He also built his own model live steam locomotive, “Juliet,” in his home workshop, and took her to several live steam meets. He was a founding member in 1961 of the Gulf Coast Railroad Club and was instrumental in the club's 1967 transformation into the ongoing educational nonprofit Gulf Coast Chapter - National Railway Historical Society, Inc., also serving as the organization's first elected president. Paul also was the driving force behind the chapter's first historic railroad car acquisition. Paul was a former president of the American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners, serving as that organization’s Chief Mechanical Officer (where he was a vocal and effective voice with railroads and Amtrak on behalf of car owners) for more than thirty years, and was named a Director Emeritus. He was an officer and founding member of the Southwestern Live Steamers, writing that organization’s founding Articles of Incorporation. He was on the board of directors of the Galveston Railroad Museum and a member of the Electric Railroaders’ Association.

Recognizing a special need, Paul was also an entrepreneur. He founded DeVerter Locomotive Works making castings for air brakes.

Paul enjoyed travel, a good Manhattan, watching John Wayne Westerns and sampling new and different food (particularly spicy ethnic fare). In his retirement years, he enjoyed playing with train simulators and collaborating in online train simulator forums, designing virtual reproductions of historic cars and locomotives. In true form as an engineer, he liked to take things apart to see how they worked, and then attempt to put them back together again, sometimes to the detriment of the object. His most recent hobbies had been bird watching and growing hot peppers.

In addition to his wife Betty, he is survived by daughters Elizabeth Scott DeVerter Young (husband Brian) of Findlay, OH, and Catherine Ann DeVerter of Raleigh, NC; grandchildren Kimberly Nicole Young and Logan Anthony Young of Findlay, OH; and brother John Scott DeVerter (wife Ruth) of Roanoke, VA. In addition to his parents, Paul was preceded in death by his son Paul Logan DeVerter III and granddaughter Rebecca Paige Young.

Arrangements will be made by Earthman Hunters Creek Funeral Home. Donations in Paul’s memory may be made to the Paul Logan DeVerter, Sr. Memorial Scholarship Fund for Chemistry, Wabash College, PO Box 352 Crawfordsville, IN 47933-0352 (wabash.edu/giving/) or the Gulf Coast Chapter - National Railway Historical Society, PO Box 457, Houston, TX 77036 (gulfcoastnrhs.org), or to your favorite charity.