Paul Hoover

Paul Brown Hoover was born September 4, 1919 in Jerusalem, Arkansas. His parents were James Floyd Hoover and Lucy Ethel Brown Hoover. He was the second of three children, Agnes Hoover Melson (deceased) and Mary Katherine Hoover Shields of Shawnee, Oklahoma. His family moved from Arkansas to Shawnee, Oklahoma where he attended grades 1-5. They then moved to a farm outside of Elida, New Mexico. He lived in New Mexico until he joined the Army in 1941. While in Elida, he attended school, worked on the farm, worked at his cousin’s creamery and played basketball. After high school, he worked for the county, driving a road grater. He also attended the Church of Christ where his father was the minister. Paul joined the Army in 1941 and served for five years. While in Europe, he was an Advance Scout Cpl. with Field Artillery Battalion 495, 40th Regiment, Field Battalion attached to Patton’s 3rd Army. His unit was the first to Hitler’s Bavarian home in Berchtesgarden, Austria and they liberated the notorious German concentration camp, Dachau. As an Advance Scout, Paul was able to collect rifles, other weapons and items left behind on the battlefield by the infantries. He sent many, of the men in his family, German 8mm Mousers, two from the stockade at Dachau. He was married three times. His first wife was Kathleen Dalton. His second wife was Jean Mayfield, together they had two children: Paula Hoover Saunders who passed away in 1999 and James Hoover who resides in Ventura with his wife Freida. Paul and Kathleen (now deceased) divorced in 1970. He then married Virginia (Jinx) Knapp Stafford in 1972. Virginia passed in 1996. After being discharged from the Army, Paul entered into the dairy business in California with his second wife’s relatives. He then worked several years in the drilling business, drilling both oil and water wells. While doing that he lost the four fingers on his right hand. In 1953, he went into business with his uncle Roy Hoover in the Home Café in Upland, California. In 1959, he began working in water purification, first for swimming pools and then in drinking water. He went to work for Ionics in 1968 and worked for them until 2001, when he was eighty-two years old. While with Ionics, Paul worked internationally. He spent time in places like Greece, the middle East, North Africa and Jamaica…just to name a few. He also worked and traveled throughout the U.S. He always enjoyed sports, playing basketball in high school, boxing in the Army, fishing and playing golf into his eighties until his legs caused him to give up. He made his home in Florida from 1968-2001. After leaving Florida he lived with his son and family in Ventura, California. The last couple of years he was cared for at Vista Cove Care Center in Santa Paula California. He turned 94 on September 4, 2013 and on January 21, 2014, after eating breakfast; he went to sleep and quietly passed away.